Grand Championship
by Achamo
Summary: Greetings from the Grand Championship of Netbattles! When the competition's from around the world, evil organization Nova's elite runs free, and things aren't always as they seem, Kaita, Mary, and Net Saviors Meiru and Enzan have their hands full! But what if one of them discovers a secret - one with the potential to change everything?
1. I Know This'll Be Something Great

It was a gorgeous day to stay inside.

The rain had begun earlier that morning. Like many a summer storm did, it sat there into the afternoon, thoroughly drenching Akihara and showing no sign of letting up. The sky was a solid gray, not even a ray of sunlight penetrating the clouds. Below, the outdoors were dark and uninviting.

And so, a trio of Netbattlers who resided in that town did what they considered to be the next best thing to hanging out-an all-afternoon chat marathon. If the power went out, they were sunk, but the majority were feeling lucky.

"When do you think the rain's going to let up?" wondered one of the humans in attendance, an eleven-year-old boy whose red headband held his black hair out of his face. Since it was summer, he wasn't wearing his normal yellow jumpsuit, perfect for helping his dad at his job as a mechanic. But since school wasn't in, why wear it all the time when it was hot and there was a better opportunity to change clothes? Instead, he was dressed in a yellow t-shirt with a red stripe across the chest and red cargo shorts.

Shrugging his metallic red shoulders, his Net Navi informed him, "The weatherman says that it'll last all week, Kaita-kun." Turboman recalled, "The storms'll just keep coming in at night and dumping rain on us in the morning."

"Geez," sighed the yellow-clad Navi girl sitting across from him. "Is it always this boring during the summer, guys?" Ring asked bluntly.

The third Navi, a huge, red-and-yellow being that resembled an ape more than a man, thought over this for a long time before responding, 'hmmm'-ing loudly all the while. "It depends, de gutsu," decided Gutsman. "Last summer was that heat wave, when nobody wanted to go outside, de gutsu... and the summer before that was... what was it again?"

"That summer... was when nothing happened," recalled Chisao, the Navi's Operator. "Unless some net mafia's causing trouble, I guess summers here really are boring..."

Ring's Operator, a green-eyed girl with a head of wavy blonde hair, frowned. "Well, boring as it is, I hope that Nova doesn't cause any more trouble. Although after that virus they let out, it'd be strange if they didn't follow it up with something worse..."

"Hey, don't worry!" said Kaita. "The Net Police are going to safeguard Internet City against those kinds of viruses."

"Yeah, de gutsu!" seconded Gutsman.

Despite her friends' reassurances, Mary was still worried. "But they said that this was the first computer virus that emulated a transmittable disease-nothing to attack to get rid of it," she pointed out. "What if they're like the real thing, and the cures all have to be different?"

This got Turboman a bit concerned as well. "Well," he said, thinking aloud, "they're linked by their method of spreading, but the exact bit of code that triggers it hasn't been found yet."

"I heard that too-they think the creator encrypted it somehow," Chisao pointed out.

"If they caught that Black creep, he'd be able to show the scientists what to look for... But it seems like he's gone," said Kaita. "Up and vanished with the rest of Nova." The last time that Kaita had seen the brown-haired hacker, Turboman had nearly been deleted by his powerful Navi, Punk. It had only been thanks to Net Saviors Sakurai Meiru and Roll, as well as a Dream Virus's attempts to wipe out every Navi in the area, that he'd made it out in one piece. Kaita and Turboman both knew the day would come when they'd end up facing Punk alone. The question was, would they manage to pull through and defeat him?

"Kaita?" As his friend yelped in alarm, Chisao laughed, "Looks like we lost you for a minute there!"

"I was just... huh? Hey, what's that Program-kun doing there?" The Navis all turned to see one of the little green assistants floating next to the entrance to Kaita's webpage. Program-kuns were usually not used as messengers; though they could have most of the personality of Net Navis and performed whatever functions were coded into them admirably, they couldn't enter a PET without permission or use Battlechips (not to mention their off-putting lack of gender). This one was slightly more customized than usual. A smart blue hat rested between its yellow-and-green ears, and a tan mailbag was slung around its shoulder. It was clearly there to deliver something, waiting politely for the chat session to finish before interrupting.

"I'm sorry!" Turboman apologized quickly. "How long have you been waiting there?"

"Oh, not too long," replied the Program-kun jovially. "Only about... one and a half hours," it said, not sounding angry at all. The Navis and Operators' eyes widened. "No, no, it's all right!" it reassured them. "I had to wait all morning for the first person I delivered to. He was Netbattling his Operator's customers all morning long, and he didn't get a chance to see me until noon!" It peered into its mailbag. "Anyway," it said, materializing three envelopes to hover in midair, "these are for Ring EXE, Turboman EXE, and Gutsman EXE, along with their Operators. That's you three, right?"

"Mm-hm," Ring answered for all of them. Their identities confirmed, the Program-kun sent the three e-mails toward their recipients. "Huh?" she wondered next, opening the envelope to pull out two separate text boxes-one with plenty to read, and one with nothing but a green circle and a red circle on it. "What is this, some kind of invitation?" She scanned the top of the page, reading, "The Grand Championship of Netbattling at Castillo de Jalero..."

"Exactly!" replied the Program-san brightly. "Take your time to read your invitations and think it over. I'll be in front of the Higureya homepage in two days to collect your responses. Fill in either the 'yes' circle or the 'no' circle on that ballot, put it back in the envelope, and give it to me there."

Turboman laughed, "Are you kidding? We don't need all that time to decide - Kaita-kun and I are going!"

"I'm glad to hear it, but I've got loads of other stops to make in Japan's Internet. That doesn't even count the rest of the world!" said the Program-kun. "I might misplace it if I take it now, what with all of the invitations I've got in here. Speaking of those, I've got to get 'em delivered! See you later!" With that, it floated over to the entrance warp and promptly vanished in a blue flash of light.

"'The rest of the world'? We'll be up against Netbattlers from around the world? This is great!" exclaimed Kaita excitedly.

"I'll show them all my power, de gutsu!" proclaimed Gutsman proudly. "Like Turboman-kun said, de gutsu, there's no need for two days to decide."

"We're going too, right, Mary-chan?" asked Ring. "Everyone else said yes..."

Mary thought it over, telling her Navi, "Well... I don't know..."

"Pleeeeeeease?"

"I want to hear what the invitation says before I make a decision," Mary said more firmly.

"So would I," decided Chisao, causing Gutsman to nearly fall over in the middle of one of his muscleman poses.

"All right, all right, here we go," said Ring, taking out the invitation and sitting down again to read it.

"'Netbattlers young and old,'" she began, "'I extend my greetings to you! I cordially invite you to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a Netbattling tournament unlike any before it! I could tell you all the details... but that would spoil the surprise! Our Netbattling technology is top-of-the-line. Even in your wildest dreams, you've never imagined seeing your Netbattles like you will in our tournament! Myself and the rest of my staff simply cannot wait to see the fighting spirit you bring to our event, and we hope to see as many of you participating as possible!

"'Unfortunately, we're set up on an island just off of Japan, and unless they got an invitation, no bringing your parents. If you're still a kid, you might want to ask them before you run off, since we must ensure that nobody can enter or leave the island during the tournament. Please remember that we can't be held responsible if anything happens to you during your stay. If that makes you worried about comfort, don't be, as you'll all be excellently housed for the rounds of the tournament. They will take place in the center of our five-star Castillo de Jalero, your home away from home-and then some! My staff is out of this world and more than ready to address your concerns. Injury? Medical problems? Not a problem here!' See, Mary-chan, there's no reason that we couldn't go! Just ask your mum, and we'll be all set! And..."

Ring frowned as she arrived at the next paragraph. "Hey, what's this about? 'Those of you with the power to arrest other contestants for crimes real, false, or suspected may not exercise that power while the tournament is in progress. Doing so will prompt me to disqualify you in a quite revolting manner.' Weird.

"Anyway... 'When you've made your decision, simply fill in the proper bubble and hand it to our friendly Program-kun. Please remember that once you've entered, there's no turning back-your decision is final after you've given your response to us. If you decide that you don't want to go, I will find a way for my staff to get to wherever you may be hiding from them and have them take you to the tournament site, no matter how much or how hard you may kick and scream in the process. Both you and the staff will appreciate your cooperation.

"'I hope to see you all fighting to reach the top!' And it's signed, 'Your Gracious Host'."

Mary thought it over for a moment longer, then nodded her head. "We'll go-it sounds exciting!"

"I knew you'd see reason, Mary-chan!" Ring said triumphantly as she filled in the bubble next to 'yes'.

"So all of us are going then," Chisao realized. Gutsman still looked gloomy, so he added, "That means we are, too."

Gutsman's demeanor did a one-eighty. "All right, de gutsu!"

Kaita grinned at his friends. "So, we'll be up against each other..." His expression took on a more thoughtful look. "I wonder what other Navis we'll be up against?"

* * *

**A/N: **Welcome to Grand Championship! This picks up after where Neo Alliances left off, and Kaita's inner monologue mentions the basics of what you need to know about previous events. However, if you'd like to see it all for yourself, you can check out the fic for yourself via my profile page; chapter 7 onwards serves as the first major arc and contains the stuff that's most important for you to know later, so if you want to get to the point, that's where you should start.

Last time, I didn't do many author's notes, since this is meant to go up and stay up for years to come. However, if more reviews come in, I'll be answering them a lot faster and more in-depth than I did last time. Whether I do a round of responding to reviews every one, five, or ten chapters depends on how many reviews I get - though this is all already written, I always enjoy seeing reader reactions, so I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Updates will be every Wednesday and Sunday, until we catch up with dA in about four or five weeks' time. Enjoy the fic!


	2. I Don't Think You're Being Honest

Enzan couldn't help but grin as his friend finished her tale. "All of this while I was gone? Sounds like you've had your hands full."

"Yeah, I guess so!" As they turned the corner to baggage claim, Meiru asked, "Any news on Jess?"

Enzan's expression became more troubled, all the answer the other Net Savior needed. "No. And what worries me is this." He picked up his duffel bag before he turned to her and explained, "Her neighbors all saw her enter her house, and she never left. Nobody should've been able to kidnap her from in there, you know how she was. The alarm went off the second I touched the front door. And to make matters worse, both the man who's been working full-time on this case and Alia have gone missing." Meiru couldn't keep the concern off her face. Though she'd expected most of what Enzan had said - she'd heard and seen far too many troubling things concerning this case - the fact that Jess's Navi had followed the other victims' Navis in disappearing right under the Net Saviors' noses meant that they were still failing to protect what few leads they could get. That had been half the reason Enzan was called in, and it meant that his being there had practically been a waste of time.

In Enzan's PET, Blues and Roll were listening closely to the news. "She was the only lead we really had," Roll said after a moment's silence. "And..." She took a breath to steady herself; neither Blues nor his Operator would take this news well. "Blues, Enzan-san... Misaki-san went missing yesterday. His PET was on him, too."

Enzan's frown grew darker. Before this, there hadn't been any disappearances in Japan. "So we aren't immune."

"We've all been told to be more careful," Meiru told him. "But if someone like Jess has gone missing, what will 'careful' do for the rest of us?" The three other Net Saviors knew what that answer was, though none of them wanted to say it.

Blues and Roll were surprised by a chime from Enzan's firewall, which had sent the Navis a message alerting them that an unknown program was trying to get into the PET. "It doesn't look like anything dangerous," Enzan noted, looking through the alert message. "Let it in, Blues."

The Program-kun that came in wore a hat and a mailbag; it also recognized Roll and Blues at first glance. "Oh, wow! The Net Saviors! It's an honor to deliver to you two, it really is." With a flourish, it produced a pair of letters, and the two Navis took them. "I'll be in front of the Higureya homepage in two days to collect your responses. This'll be so cool if you guys come-I hope you say yes!"

Blues' frown grew more pronounced and Roll's eyes narrowed as they looked over their identical messages. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Roll asked as she finished reading.

"I'm thinking it's a trap, and not a well-thought out one, either," Blues said.

The Program-kun had not been expecting this. "W-What!?"

"Come on," Enzan said. "An abandoned island? 'We can't be held responsible if anything happens'? Really?"

"We're flattered your boss thinks we'd add spice to your 'tournament,' but we're not stupid," Meiru said sweetly.

"No! That isn't it!" Things shuffled around inside the Program-kun's mailbag as it looked around. "I - um - look, we're going to invite lots of other people, too!" it said. Roll and Blues exchanged glances almost in tandem with their Operators. "And, um, uh..."

Roll began, "Look, we're sorry, but-"

"He'll get mad if you don't come," said the Program-kun eerily. "You're his top two seeds. He's depending on you. And if you don't come, it's all-my-fault!" The Program-kun burst into ear-splitting sobs, forcing the two Navis in his PET to clap their hands over the sides of their helmets. Enzan quickly hit the mute button before any more people could start staring at him and Meiru.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked. "We can't just kick the poor guy out..."

"First, we find a more private area; then, we tell it no," Enzan said, heading for the exit. The Program-kun could still hear them even if Meiru and Enzan couldn't. They both ignored its antics until they were safe in Meiru's car.

The first thing they heard was Blues saying, "For the ninth time, we have more pressing-"

As soon as it knew the Operators could hear it again, the Program-kun shouted, "What's so suspicious about it? Name one thing!"

"All of it?" Roll went on, "I mean, first you don't give us any names-"

"Alexander Scialto! He's an-"

Though the name left Meiru unfazed, it clicked with Enzan. "An Ameroupian stockbroker. What's he doing hosting a tournament?"

"He doesn't Netbattle much himself, but he's very interested in customization," the Program-kun explained. "He only wants to see the best, like the N1 Grand Prix - oooh, I wasn't supposed to tell you any of that!"

"Well, now that you've started, there's no point in stopping," Meiru said. "Thinking it was so important that you not be responsible for what happens, which is as good as saying something you're doing is dangerous-"

"That's standard for any sort of event! Besides, the island has miles of greenery to explore, and there are some wild animals in there, and you'll probably wind up having a good look around while you're there... That was supposed to be a surprise, too," sighed the Program-kun. It whined, "You guys ask too many questions."

"What I want to know is, who do you expect to come?" Enzan asked, looking at the middle of the invitation again.

"Yeah, that's right! Did you invite Nova?" Meiru asked. "You'd better believe they'll try something if they come, and if we can't arrest them-"

The Program-kun nervously tried to laugh it off. "They probably wouldn't show up! That is, if - if I gave them a letter-"

"So you invited them," Roll said.

"One of them tried to steal my hat," the Program-kun said tearfully. "I hope I never see them again!" It floated backward to the spot it had come from. With its original cheer, it said, "But I do hope I see you again in front of Higureya's homepage, where I'll receive your responses." It turned to leave, then whipped its head around to gloomily add, "As long as you don't say no or ask any more of your _questions_!" It zipped out of Enzan's PET and on to other, less picky candidates in an instant.

They thought it over in silence for a moment. "It's been so long since the N1," Meiru said. "The last big Netbattling tournament..."

"That was so long ago," Roll said. Above her, she could see her Operator was half-lost in memories. "We've changed so much from who we were before..."

"And stayed the same, too." Meiru's smile was a little wistful, a little excited. "Wouldn't it be interesting to put that to the test? To see just how far we've come?"

"It'll certainly be interesting," Enzan said. "I wish you luck."

Meiru didn't understand exactly what he meant for a moment. As soon as that moment passed, she pleaded, "Aw, come on, you have to come along! They sent you back for the summer, right? It'll be a nice break from this. Maybe there'll be a new lead once we get back."

"Maybe there won't be any other Net Saviors left." Worry spread over Meiru's face. Enzan continued, "Face it, it's possible."

Meiru sighed. She pointed out, "Well, you can look at it this way. Nobody can come or go-come to think of it, that sounds weird, too-but that means we can get together between rounds and puzzle over what we know in safety. And if whoever's behind this gets invited, they can't leave until it's over, so we'd find out who this guy is and have time to get away." She grinned, though it was a little half-hearted. "Sound better?"

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Enzan crossed his arms and conceded, "All right."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Knightman scanned his Operator's recently received e-mail, stopping only when one of the security Navis approached him. "Sir, a Program-kun arrived a few minutes ago with a message for the princess. I've got it with me now for you to scan." The message was programmed to appear as a real-world envelope, something Knightman found unusual. He scanned it like he had the rest of the mail and found it free of viruses.

"Thank you," he told the security Navi, who promptly left to continue with his duty. "Pride-sama," Knightman alerted, causing his Operator to look up from her own paperwork.

"A message, Knightman?" she asked her Navi, who nodded the affirmative. "Display it on the screen for me, please." She read through the message, thinking it over once she'd reached the bottom. "Knightman, can we fit it in?"

The armored Net Navi brought up Pride's calendar. "There are a few things we'd have to rearrange, but it could be done."

Pride looked it over for herself before deciding, "We'll definitely be going. I can't wait for this!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"I've already marked the 'yes' box," Tomahawkman told his Operator as Dingo read through the letter. "We'll be there to kick some butt, right?"

"Right!" Dingo replied with a broad grin.

One of the other workers at Maha Ichiban peered over Dingo's shoulder into the little screen. "And where is 'there'?" Hinoken asked.

"It's a tournament for the strongest, most skilled Netbattlers," Dingo replied excitedly. He only realized what a big mistake he'd made when the other four stopped to glare at him. He swallowed nervously, not knowing what they would do now.

"Aren't _we_ skilled Netbattlers?" Elec asked indignantly.

"Yeah, really!" chimed in Madoi. "How can they invite a delivery boy like _you_ and not even consider _us_?"

Dingo laughed nervously. "Um..."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Well? How does it sound?"

Yumi shrugged. "Well, it's been a busy few months. I, for one, would be happy to take a break from this whole mess. I don't think the boss'll have a problem with it, either..."

"All right. I'll mark it yes, then - wait a minute, what's this?" wondered Arrow, looking at another message that was attached to the invitation. "'Bring hiking boots. Your friend, Black.' What's that supposed to mean?"

"I got the same thing in mine," said a man from behind her. He was a little older and much larger than Yumi, and his hairstyle clearly took a lot of work to achieve - it was dyed blue and painstakingly spiked to resemble flames rising from his head. "I wonder what we'll be doing for him to say that?"

"Hey, Atsuki," greeted Yumi calmly. After sharing the hideout with Black's quiet footsteps for so long, she couldn't really muster much surprise to find him or his friend standing behind her. "I have no idea. After all, it's a Netbattling tournament. Think about it, what can this guy do? The only thing we have to do is supply chips on the other side of the screen, far from harm's way. Certainly nothing that'd make sensible shoes necessary enough to get a mention..."

Atsuki had some ideas of his own of what they could be doing, but he decided to keep them to himself. There was no reason to alarm Yumi if he was wrong, after all. "I'm clueless, too. Guess we'll find out."


	3. I'm Ready for the Show

There would be a number of challenges for the competitors, none of them even remotely safe. Viruses, traps, and unusual terrain abounded; they were all designed to either take out Navi or Operator. The man responsible for providing these dangers had just finished preparing his work for release upon the playing field. Once everything had also been backed up for his personal use, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile. It was much more comfortable than the one in his office at the Nova base-he'd have to see about taking it with him when this was over. He'd taken this side project on after hearing the ambitious goals of its sponsor; that, and he felt like taking a break from programming the huge main project that continued to give him grief. "Well, this'll be fun to watch. I don't envy the contestants, though."

"With that stuff you cooked up crawling around? Me neither," Punk said. His bulky body was taking up another chair, this one next to a glass door that led to a balcony which looked out over a heavily forested area. Beyond the trees was ocean. "So, now that everyone's replied, who d'you think'll be turning up next week?"

"The final list should be hanging around in here. Might as well take a look." It didn't take long for Black to bring the list up on the screen, and soon he'd found some names that he recognized. "Kaita and his bunch, not surprised there... Meiru-chan... And Enzan. Wow. I thought he'd still be busy." A large number of names garnered a raised eyebrow. "The old Cross Fusion bunch. Is he just curious or something? I haven't heard much about most of them lately..." After he nodded at a few other names, he came to some that produced a laugh. "Those three! Yeah, he's definitely curious."

"Cross Fusion?" Punk asked. "I thought he didn't want people who could use that-it'd ruin this for him. Look at all those Net Saviors he didn't invite."

"They aren't Net Saviors, so they couldn't keep their Synchro Chips," Black explained. "They were only supposed to be called out in an emergency, and it's been pretty quiet since the Japanese crackdown on substantiation tech. The Net Police probably don't even keep their Synchro Chips around anymore."

"So it wouldn't matter." Punk swiveled his head to look at his Operator, the upper part of his torso propped up with his black-gloved hand. "You seem to know more of these people than I'd think you would..."

Black was quick to explain, "Many of them messed around in stuff that was pretty much required knowledge back home. That, or they wound up directly related to a couple of the older projects. I couldn't not know them." Punk didn't press the issue, so he went back to looking through the list. There were a few others that didn't surprise him. Most of the ones he knew were from Japan and had taken down a lower-ranked Nova member, which was apparently what had also gotten Kaita and his friends in. One especially piqued his interest. "Tamako. I'll be disappointed if she doesn't make it, especially after that superb show she gave us taking out Nyuudou."

It had been one of the last arrests of an intentionally useless member that had taken place, so Punk had been around to see it. "Gotta admit, that one was impressive." He turned his head after a light click sounded from his left shoulder plate, finding that a spherical, bird-like program had chosen to land there. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You're lucky Black wants to keep you around, 'cause I'm beyond sick of you. Shoo." His cable arm extended to swat at the little bird, who squawked in alarm and flew over to his creator, landing on Black's desk.

"If things keep going according to plan, he won't be staying for long," Black said as the bird, relieved to be out of danger, chirped brightly to himself. "Oh, no, don't get comfortable! You're going straight back to my suite until I'm done here, Beat," Black said sternly. The little bird wasn't a good fit for either his creator or Punk. With his gray-striped cap and round-rimmed sunglasses, he didn't resemble any real bird. Two feathers, the same blue as his body, poked jauntily up from the light gray top of the cap. His yellow, tube-shaped claws clicked against the oak desk as he hopped around it, exploring the new terrain. "If you're so bored, there'll be people coming here in a week. You can go pester them." Beat reluctantly seemed to accept this news.

"Just don't come near me, bird," Punk said gruffly.

"And listen this time," Black advised, a little more friendly now. "Until the entertainment gets here, it'll be a long, boring wait for all of us."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

A few rooms away, the master of ceremonies was already starting to get impatient. "Are the cameras all functioning?" he asked the helper Navi reporting to him.

"Yes, sir," the Navi said, the monitor light reflecting off the metallic blue surface of his helmet as he bowed. "The viruses are being introduced to the field as we speak. There will be hundreds populating the island by the week's end."

"Which will give me plenty of footage." Alexander rubbed his hands together. "This'll be enough excitement for another few years, I think. It'll be fun to see how much everyone's improved since the old N1!" He brought up a few of the profiles he'd put together when deciding who to invite. Though many of his picks had grown up in the years since he'd first spotted them, there were still some who were young, only just beginning to Netbattle. "But, truth be told, I'm most excited to see how the new faces change things up..."


	4. I Didn't See This Coming

Turboman, Ring, and Gutsman went together to Higureya's Internet City location, where they found the same mailman Program-kun that had given them their invitations. "Oh, it's you three!" it said happily as it looked at their responses. "And you're all going? Wonderful!" The Navis' replies vanished into the bag. Next, the Program-kun took out three small envelopes with their names already marked on them. It went up to Turboman first. "That's you, right?" it asked, holding out the correct one.

"Yep, that's me!" he replied, taking it and tearing it open while the Program-kun floated over to his friends. Inside was a clear, thick chip of a glass-like material with a turquoise block inside of it.

Its duty finished, the Program-kun floated back to its original spot. "Meet at the Akihara Pier in one week's time at about ten o' clock in the morning to head over to the tournament's location. You'll need those color chips to do that, so don't lose 'em! Good luck!" It then turned to greet another Navi who had arrived.

"We match, Turboman! Cool!" Ring and Gutsman had opened theirs; while the latter had a maroon chip, the former held an exact copy of the chip in Turboman's hand. "Does this mean we're sharing a room or something? I know the awesomest ghost stories, Turboman, you'll have nightmares for _weeks_ afterwards-"

"Please, no!" Mary cried, shuddering in horror at the memory of previous tellings. "They're too scary!"

"I know you have to be careful and all, Mary-chan, but a little excitement is good for everybody," Ring said cheerfully. "And they're just stories, anyway; there's nothing to worry about..."

"I don't know if you guys would be sharing a room," Chisao cut in. "I mean, you guys aren't the same gender. It'd be kind of awkward..."

"But what else could they be for?" wondered Turboman.

Mary shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"What are you doing?"

"Packing."

Todoroki Asuna stuck her head into Kaita's room, where she found that it was no joke. Half of Kaita's clothes had vanished into his school backpack, whose normal contents were in a nearby pile on the floor. "Oh, really? What for?"

"You never told Mama, did you?" realized Turboman.

"Oops!"

"'Oops', indeed." Turboman began, "We've been invited to a tournament that starts tomorrow-"

"Well, then, good luck!" Asuna took a second survey of the scene. "And this is far enough away that you'll need to pack? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"He probably forgot, and... well, that's why we needed to ask." Turboman took a deep breath. This was not going to go over well. "The invitation says that only the competitors can come-no parents or anything." Asuna frowned. Kaita and his Navi swallowed nervously, but Turboman continued on. "But there'll be good-_great_ security there, and, uh..."

"There's a Net Savior coming," Kaita cut in. His mother seemed to be appeased at least somewhat, though it was lucky that she couldn't see Turboman in his PET, wondering what his Operator was talking about.

"Well, I guess you'll be safe," said Asuna reluctantly. Kaita sighed in relief and began to zip his bag up. "Did you pack your toothbrush and toothpaste?"

Kaita stopped. "No," he said, dashing into the bathroom.

"Comb?"

"No."

"Pajamas?"

"No!"

"Clean underwear?"

Still trying to gather things up from the bathroom, Kaita was unable to do much more than sigh.

"And pack some snacks for the trip over, at least-I'm assuming that they're going to take you to wherever this is? Not to mention that they usually charge you for the stuff they put in the rooms at those hotels these days... Anything for a quick zenny..." Kaita snatched his pajamas up with the hand that wasn't holding what he'd taken from the bathroom. "At least put your toothbrush in a plastic bag," Asuna said before her son could dump his armful of belongings into his bag. "I don't want to _know_ what all's been in that backpack..." The entire proceedings, Kaita, backpack, toothbrush, and all, descended down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Asuna got a resealable bag out and put the toothbrush in it. She then took what seemed to Kaita to be every kind of snack food in the house-chips, cheddar popcorn, nuts, pretzels, and the trail mix that nobody in the house especially liked-and laid it on the counter alongside the backpack.

"Mama, all that stuff isn't going to fit," complained Kaita.

"Oh, all right, just bring the popcorn. And some of that trail mix, even if it _is _just to dump it in the trash-we really should eat it before it goes bad. And the nuts won't take up that much space."

"But that's it, right?"

Asuna smiled at her son as he attempted to cram the food in. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yep," Kaita answered absently, his focus still on his overstuffed backpack. "This still won't fit..."

Asuna gave him a quick hug as she told him, "I'm sure I can help it along there."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

The next morning, Kaita met Mary among the many other Netbattlers on the pier. There were a number of boats waiting, tied up to the posts along the water's edge. Each one had a differently colored stripe along the side. Mary took Kaita over to a boat that had a turquoise one. "I think they're going to have us get on the boat that has our color," she explained. "Look at them all, though! I wonder why we have to be so split up?"

"I don't know," was Kaita's honest reply.

Moments later, Mary was proven right. "You all remember the color chips your Navis received, correct?" a voice boomed from a loudspeaker. "Take them out, find the boat with the matching color, get on board, and get ready to enjoy the tournament!" A loud cheer rose from the crowd, and soon everyone was shoving through to find their boat. Mary tugged Kaita over to theirs before the excited throng could separate them, the two children bouncing a bit on the cushioned floor of the cabin as they got on board. There were windows along the top half of the little room, and padded benches ran along either side of the walls below the glass. The people moving past grew fewer and fewer, until there was nothing outside but concrete and ocean. Moments later, a loud rumble from the boat announced their departure. Kaita and Mary peered out the window as they left Japan's shore behind, watching as the pier and the buildings around it grew smaller and smaller.

They almost didn't notice it when a soft hissing began to issue from somewhere behind them. When the two turned to see what it was, there was nothing visible. However, both felt the effects almost immediately. Kaita blinked slowly, his eyes staying shut longer each time. Realizing what was happening, Turboman yelled, "Kaita-kun! It's some kind of sleeping gas, don't breathe it in-" But it was too late. His Operator slumped sideways on the bench, eyes drooping shut. "Kaita-kun! Kaita-kun!" But the boy and his friend weren't the only ones under attack. A soft chime issued from an inconspicuous machine at one end of the cabin, and Turboman's body tingled as he was forced into sleep mode. "_Kaita!"_

The boat sped on, the motor and the water smacking against the hull the only sources of sound.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Oh, thank you!" Black yelled to the stone castle. "Thank _you!_" Something else howled in fury, this one with fur and teeth. "Aw, shit!" With that, Black ran for it, the Garuu in pursuit. He wished fleetingly for Punk and Beat, in that order. Unfortunately, one had probably been deposited on the other side of the castle and the other might not have even left the castle at all. Soon, he hit the line of trees that separated the castle from the rest of the playing field, and it was there that he got an idea. The moment he saw a tree with a low enough branch, he practically leapt for it, wincing at the effort it took to pull himself higher-how long had it been since he'd really had to use his muscles, anyway? Years?-until he finally deemed himself high enough. As he gasped for air, the Garuu leapt pathetically for him, jumping up and down with no effect. With the last of his breath, he yelled, "Wolves don't climb, loser!"

The Garuu decided to remind him of its added abilities by shooting a jet of flame at him. Black barely managed to fling himself further down the branch without falling off. Unfortunately, the tree caught fire, and he was forced to lower himself to the next branch before moving to a tree that wasn't aflame. He looked back down at the virus and sighed in relief; it was stupidly jumping up and down again. Then, it set the base of the tree on fire, and Black couldn't help but wonder where it had gotten the insight from before the fire began to climb. "Geez, where is Punk..."

"Did someone say my name?" Punk's cylindrical mace slammed through the Garuu's body, deleting it. The rest of him dropped from another tree. "Y'know, we should really put that out," he said, pointing to the fire.

"Reading my mind. Bubble Shot, slot-in!"

Punk quickly got to work on the fire. Once it was out, he extended his cable arm for his Operator to grab onto. "So, we're playing the game now?"

"Looks like it." Once he'd been returned to the ground, Black said, "C'mon, let's go get our ticket to the finals before everyone else comes."


	5. I'll Make the Best of This

Kaita wasn't on the boat when he came to. In fact, there was no water to be seen-just dirt, tall grass, and trees, all spinning around in a rainbow-colored haze. As the aftereffects of whatever had knocked him out began to lessen, he was able to worry about where Mary was. He looked around quickly and soon located her next to him, still unconscious. He hoped that her medical condition wasn't being aggravated by this, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. He next wondered where their things were. There was a good-sized backpack that didn't belong to him or Mary resting against a nearby tree, and their belongings were sitting next to them. Neither of them were rainbow-colored, unlike the flora. "You're a weird dream," he accused the trees groggily-they'd even decided to sit still, but they continued to be tinted in bright hues that reminded him of an oil spill. Tiny dots of sky were visible through the leafy canopy, and Kaita was surprised and confused to see that the oil-spill effect extended to the air as well.

"Kaita-kun?" asked Mary, just waking up next to him.

"Mary-chan!" Kaita felt fine other than the rainbow colors around him, and now he was starting to become curious. "Is everything rainbow for you, too?" he asked eagerly, sitting up now.

"Yes, but... oh, my head..."

"Then this _must_ be real," Kaita said, his curiosity now in full effect. "Maybe we should go find somebody who knows what's going on."

"This is like some kind of dream..." Mary took hold of her messenger bag and pulled herself into a sitting position, clutching her temples as the world spun around her again. As she moved her arms away, she noticed something that alarmed her. "Ring-chan isn't in my PET!"

Kaita quickly raised his arm to check as well. "Turboman's gone, too!" The forest somehow seemed less safe with the Navis missing. Both children began to notice the grass rustling like something was moving through it. Faint, distant noises echoed through the dark trees; some sounded like the cries of some kind of creature neither had ever heard of. Kaita didn't know what had happened-was this some kind of test in the tournament? Was this even part of the tournament? If not, what had happened to them?

A twig snapped, and the Netbattlers turned to see more grass. Kaita got to his feet as whatever had made the sound moved toward them. He was helping Mary to her feet when a Rabbi virus shot out of the grass, startling shouts out of both of them. It didn't seem to be paying any attention to them. Its ears-Kaita noticed with amazement that they came up to his waist-crackled with electricity as it readied a RabiRing attack, peering into the grass. Kaita was about to tell Mary to get moving when a Garuu burst out, causing them both to freeze in surprise. It shot a jet of flame at the Rabbi, which stumbled back and fell, deleted as it hit the ground. Its prey gone, the Garuu focused its attention on Kaita and Mary, opening its mouth to incinerate them both-

"Ring Boomerang!" Turboman and Ring ran out from behind one of the nearby trees as the Garuu was deleted, the yellow-clad Navi's rings circling back to form their owner's pigtails again.

"Are you guys all right?" Turboman asked. His Operator nodded as he ran over to look at his Navi, grinning.

"This is a really old Dimensional Area," Ring explained as Kaita poked at Turboman's forearm, causing the red Navi to snatch it back in surprise. "The ones you're used to are all smaller and mostly colorless, Mary-chan, so you probably didn't recognize it." She grinned as she continued, "I haven't been in a Dimensional Area for ages, and never one with all this planty stuff inside! Perfect to stretch my legs after being in the Internet for so long."

Mary speculated, "Do you think it extends across the whole island? Maybe it's some kind of test. But then again, this might be how the entire tournament works..."

"Either way, all we probably have to do is stay around until the other contestants are all knocked out," Ring finished. "Sounds easy enough to me!"

"There's nothing keeping us here, then," Turboman said. "Come on, let's check this place out!"

"Wait a minute," Mary said. She went over to the large backpack on the ground and gave it a good look. "I think it's for us!" The other three came over and noticed what Mary had-their two Navi symbols, one on each strap of the backpack.

"I bet there's food in it," Turboman said, and he was proven right when Mary opened it. It was mostly canned, and a saucepan rested on the bottom for heating it up. There were also many bottles of water and a bar of soap on the bottom.

"And we've already got a source of fire!" Ring exclaimed, pointing to Turboman.

He stammered, "Y-Yeah..."

Ring slung the bag over her shoulders, and the group left the clearing behind. As they progressed, they noticed that, if nothing else, the island certainly had a lot of trees and viruses, especially the latter. It seemed like every step they took was dogged by at least a Metool, if not something more threatening or, as they went on, a group more in number. They reached a small clearing and froze. Staring back at them was an army of viruses. "Do you think we should go back?" asked Mary.

"Nah, they'll just follow us," Ring pointed out. "Forget that, they already are." She detached her pigtails, deleting the first attacker just before it pounced. Turboman followed her lead, mowing down viruses left and right. It was when a scream came from behind them that they whirled around to see what they'd forgotten. Mary and Kaita were surrounded by viruses, and the distance between the humans and the viruses was growing smaller and smaller as the swarm closed in, pickaxes and other weapons at the ready.

"It was a trap!" exclaimed Turboman, lifting his tires from his shoulders. But he put them back down, realizing that he couldn't attack with them; they would plow through viruses and humans indiscriminately.

"_Duh!_" With two careful throws, Ring was able to take down the viruses to Kaita and Mary's right and left, but she couldn't safely take out the ones between her and the two Operators. "Mary-chan!"

Ring's voice jolted Mary into action. Fishing out a Battlechip with shaking hands, she yelled, "Wide Sword, slot-in!" Her Navi sliced up viruses as quickly and carefully as she could. After a moment, Kaita sent his Navi a Sword chip as well. Most of the viruses that had surrounded him and Mary fell fast under the Navis' onslaught. Unfortunately, there were still plenty of viruses in front of them, and they were starting to make their presence known with Sonicbooms and RabiRings.

"Barrier!" Kaita called. Turboman leapt in front of the two Operators as Ring finished up behind them. "I don't think there are any more hiding, Turboman, so focus on what's up there and we'll be fine!"

"If you say so," Turboman said. A Long Sword appeared on his hand, and he charged forward to meet the advancing army of viruses. Ring soon joined him with a Hi-Cannon on her arm.

"Spreader!"

"Elec S-" A growl from behind startled Kaita, and he whirled around to find a Garuu, mouth open and ready to burn him to a crisp. He started to run away, but someone larger than him suddenly ran into him. Whoever had run into him was also heavier, and wound up on top of him as they fell to the ground. The Garuu missed-for the moment.

It took a few seconds for Kaita to recognize who had been thrown on top of him, and for her to do the same. After all, the only thing each had seen of the other was a face on a screen. "Meiru-san?"

"Kaita-kun?" Meiru was quick to disentangle herself from Kaita after that. She was wearing a long skirt with a huge dragonfly patch adorning one side and her Navi symbol near the bottom. A light blue sweater was tied around her waist, revealing a pink tank top. She, too, had received a food pack, though the symbol other than hers on it was one Kaita didn't recognize. Her brown eyes darted to the Garuu behind Kaita, and she said, "We'll catch up later. Roll, over here!"

From the direction that Meiru had come from came the reply, "Right!" An arrow embedded itself into the Garuu, and it pixelated and vanished as Roll backed out of the trees, sending a stream of razor-sharp hearts in the direction she'd come from. "Turboman? You were invited, too?" she asked, firing a pair of Roll Arrows into the heads of a pair of Swordin viruses.

"Uh-huh," he replied, hurling his Turbo Wheels at a mob of Metools. After giving Roll a wave and receiving one in return, Ring dove into the viruses behind Turboman with a Flame Sword, cutting down viruses left and right. Her Ring Boomerangs made her even more of a threat-they cleared away the viruses directly ahead of her while she worked on those beside and behind her.

The three Operators were staying just as busy, Meiru acting as their defense by shooting down opponents with a Mega Cannon turret while Mary and Kaita sent Battlechips to their Navis. "How long do you think they'll keep coming?" asked Mary, sending a Triple Lance Battlechip her Navi's way.

"Roll and I stumbled on the fringe of them a little while ago, and we've been at it for a while. There probably aren't too many more to go, unless they spread as far as they did for us in some other direction," Meiru explained.

"Then, there'd still be a whole lot?" Kaita asked.

"Hundreds." Meiru's Mega Cannon vanished, its shots used. She was quick to put in another one before the viruses could get too close.

"Yo-yo!" called Kaita, Mary putting in an Kouri Hougan at the same time.

"Take this!" The swatch of viruses Ring had frozen were sliced cleanly in half as Turboman's attack tore through.

"Is that it?" wondered Ring, her pigtails snapping back onto her head.

Meiru surveyed the area-and the damage their fight had done to the forest. She saw snapped and scraped-up trees, uprooted grass, and huge clumps of dirt strewn everywhere. But there were no viruses in sight, and no movement behind the trees. "I think so."

Now that the danger had passed, Mary was able to ask, "If there's one backpack of food for every two Operators... Well... What happened to your partner, Meiru-san?"

"Maybe she threw him in the ocean," speculated Ring. "You never can tell if someone'll go and do that..." she said gravely.

"No, no, of course not!" Meiru sighed, "I'm afraid he didn't see it like you guys did. He thought this was some kind of first round, and we were supposed to fight over who got the backpack. When Roll and I defeated him, his Navi returned to his PET, and he couldn't get him back out again. He was e-mailed directions to a pier, but I'm not sure how he's supposed to get back home if we're in a Dimensional Area..."

"Huh?" Ring said, "But it's easy to get in and out of Dimensional Areas! Back in Kingland, Mary-chan did it all the time!"

"You must be used to newer ones." Meiru explained, "This is one of the first kinds made-that dome up there is like a solid wall. I don't think anyone on the island has what you'd need to break through."

"So we're stuck in here with all the viruses until someone shuts off the Dimensional Area?" Kaita asked. Meiru nodded. "No wonder they didn't want our parents coming."

Roll looked up at the sky. "It's getting late," she commented.

The other five nodded their agreement. "Hey, why don't you guys stick with us for now?" Ring offered. "It's not like we can go anywhere in this dark ol' forest after nightfall."

"You don't mind?" Meiru asked.

Mary shyly played with a strand of her wavy hair as she said, "Well, it is probably a good idea for us to stick together..."

Kaita's answer was much simpler. "Of course not!"


	6. I Wish You Weren't Here

The next morning, disaster strolled into the camp. He looked around at the trio of sleeping Operators, thought about approaching the one stranger of the three, then decided against it for the tried-and-true approach. Once he'd positioned himself next to his target's ear, brown hair dangling to the ground in front of his face, he said, "Good morning!"

Meiru's scream was impressive, almost instantly snapping Mary and Kaita awake and sending the Navis dashing back from wherever they'd been trying to keep a lookout. Her cry of "_Black!_" was echoed by Kaita and the pair's Navis. Roll and Turboman looked around, knowing that Punk would probably be nearby. The mohawked Navi came forward moments after. Fortunately, he seemed pretty relaxed and not about to rip anyone to shreds with his huge, spiky shoulder plates. Still, Turboman eyed him-and the sunlight flashing off the many spikes-warily.

"Hey, don't give me that surprised look. It only makes sense that I'd want to see you all again. And especially you..." The last part would have been almost flirtatious in someone else's hands. Black just made it seem creepy. He took on a darker tone as he finished, "_Meiru-chan_."

"Don't call me that," she snapped.

"I'll call you and your bratty little friends whatever I want to, _Meiru-chan_," he countered with dismissive abandon, "and there's nothing you can do about it." Meiru's face-and her hands, balled into fists at her sides-clearly told him that it was only her self-restraint stopping her from doing something about it. A single "Ha" was his response to that before he returned his attention to the entire group. None of its members seemed eager to have him around for much longer. "Oh, I see. Not enjoying your first day on the Island of Hell? Obviously hasn't been enough time for you to catch on to how this game works. I'd try and figure that out before it's too late, it's pretty important. But who knows? There might be hope for you yet. Or you might be out of the game already. Yep..." An icy smile spread across his face. "Who knows."

"What a creep," Ring whispered loudly to Mary.

Black beamed. "Thank you."

"What are you even doing here?" Roll asked, saving Meiru the trouble of uttering a response.

"What do you think? I was under the impression that I was part of the staff. Then I got tricked, same as you. The viruses and some of the geographical changes were my contribution, and Midorikawa Kero got tossed out here for agreeing to cover this." The hacker's eye flicked over to Meiru, who looked surprised. "And to stay the moment when you lose it and start screeching at me, no, I have no clue where she got dumped."

Meiru's fury at the comment on her self-control was making it hard for her to keep her emotions in check. She was moments away from proving Black right. "That wasn't what I was going to ask," she said, seething. "I don't care about your stupid 'game' or whatever."

"Not my game," he said with a shrug. "Mr. Alexander Scialto's. You're jumping to conclusions, Meiru-chan. That, or you're saying things wrong; either one doesn't reflect well on you. But you can't really help it, can you? I'm sure you've always been this way. Dumb, quick-to-anger... Rather like a red, blind bull..." He lifted his remaining eyebrow. "Especially the red part." Kaita, Mary, and their Navis didn't know Meiru well, but they knew enough to back away; she wasn't far from launching herself at Black.

"Shut up!" she yelled. "If you don't have anything good to say, get out before I make you!" Black paid little attention to Meiru's anger. It was when her Navi formed a crossbow and leveled it at him that he raised his hands in what seemed to be defeat.

"Okay, okay. I'll play nice. It's a waste of our time to fight over something this small, anyway." Meiru didn't seem to think it was small at all. Black came closer to her before he suggested, "Wouldn't it be more satisfying if you got the upper hand on me by winning the whole shebang? Humiliate me in front of the best Netbattlers here? Why don't you save it for then?"

Meiru's glare wasn't going away that easily. "You've been making it sound like we don't have a chance," she pointed out.

"Right now? No, you don't. There's a way, though. When I feel like it, I'll tell you more," Black said, the sides of his mouth lifting in his cold smile. "Until then, looks like you're stuck with me, doesn't it?"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"We should vote him off the island," Ring declared, while Mary and the other Operators ate lunch in a clearing. Black was on the opposite end, doing something with his PET and occasionally having a short conversation with Punk; he didn't ask for food, and nobody made a move to give him any.

"Can we?" wondered Kaita, glancing over at the darkly-clad man.

Black didn't even look up from what he was doing as he told them, "That's not how it works." The ground around him seemed to flutter a little, and he shook his head.

"Then how does it work?" Turboman asked.

Black looked up, obviously wishing he was still doing what he'd been so absorbed in before. "I would demonstrate, but it'd be a waste of everyone's time. You'll find all this stuff out yourself, eventually. That's supposed to be part of the fun." He shrugged. "I don't see the point in keeping everything secret, myself. Everyone'll just stumble on the way to the finals, and that isn't any test of skill."

Kaita quickly asked, "There're finals?"

Black rolled his only eye. "Duh. You didn't seriously think this was all there was to it, did you? Yes, there are final rounds, but if you stay together like you are, your chances of getting to them grow less and less with each day..." With his index finger, he motioned a decreasing slope with an accompanying, "Whoosh..."

"And how do we know you're telling the truth?" Ring asked, arms crossed.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but I've already got my space in the finals. Maybe I'll show it to you later. Then again, maybe not. You may have driven me away already," he said, sounding unconcerned as to whether they had or hadn't.

Meiru glared at him. "You probably wouldn't show it to us in the first place."

"Yeah, you just think it's fun to annoy us!" Turboman chimed in.

Black shook his head. "It's not that... Well, yes, it is. Sorry." Everyone but him looked around as rustling noises reached them. While they were distracted, he got back to his project. "By the way," he pointed out, back to not looking up, "did you know there are plain old snakes and stuff crawling around these woods? Mind you, the viruses probably got most of 'em, but I don't think the fuzzy woodland creatures're programmed to be out to get you."

Their wary eyes darted to the corner of their clearing when they heard a different, closer-sounding rustle. "On the other hand, it _is_ funny watchin' you all jump at every sound," Punk said smugly, yanking his cable arm out of the shrubs as his Operator smirked. The angered group of Netbattlers moved further away until Black and his Navi couldn't hear them as long as they spoke quietly.

"How'll we get them out of here?" Roll wondered, occasionally darting glances at the scruffy-looking duo. Black wasn't even paying attention to them any longer, entirely focused on his PET. Punk, his normal arm behind the half-sphere that served for his head and his legs crossed, watched them, cockiness written in the way he leaned back against the tree and winked to Meiru with half-lidded eyes as she shot him a glare. Kaita wasn't feeling so brave; he remembered the last time he'd seen the Navi. Punk was dangerous enough in the Internet, but sharing a clearing with him made Kaita feel very aware of his comparatively soft and squashable body. He could tell by how Turboman's gaze seemed fixed on Punk that his Navi wasn't thrilled, either.

"We need something really, really bad. Something so horrible, even they won't stick around," Ring said. "Like... A fire."

"They probably have Aqua-type Battlechips," Mary pointed out glumly. "Not only would they just put it out, but it would be putting us in danger, too."

"Maybe they wouldn't follow us if we just left." Kaita's hopeful thought was met by skeptical glances from the others at first, but Meiru had clearly paid more attention to it. She tapped a finger against her other arm as she thought.

"Hey... you know what would really be a shame?" she asked, a smile beginning to form on her lips. "If they _couldn't_ follow us."

Mary and Roll caught on at roughly the same time, the human darting glances at their unwelcome company and trying to suppress a giggle while Roll said, "We won't even have to waste a Battlechip if we pick the right method. Let's see..."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Punk, I think they're trying to find some way to give us our comeuppance."

"Geez. How predictable." Black suddenly grinned down at his PET screen. Punk peered over his Operator's shoulder to read the stream of code displaying on it. He settled back with an approving nod. "Nice."

"If it just did something about this heat..." sighed Black, before he got to his feet. Punk followed suit, and they sauntered over to the cluster of Netbattlers. On the way, the hacker hit a button on his PET, causing the program he'd created to start running. "You know, trying to get rid of the guy who's helping you doesn't win you any brownie points at all."

Meiru was first to turn and face him. "I've yet to see any help."

"It might be coming," Black said with a shrug.

She stepped closer to him, arms crossed. Despite her height advantage, the intimidation tactic failed miserably; Black met her glare with cool indifference. "The more I hear, the less I believe you," she told him.

"Oh, come on, Meiru-chan-" They both heard the crackling sound, but Black was the only one at the right angle to see its cause. With genuine alarm, he said, "Watch out!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Having to deal with Black left Meiru frustrated and without a lot of awareness of her surroundings; she ducked with only seconds to spare. The lightning bolt zipped over her and blackened the tree behind her, sparks jumping out of it. Black yanked her toward him, and her attacker's second lightning bolt whipped around to face them. A couple of feet away from them, though, it rammed into something. The ground around their feet seemed to revert to its normal color for a moment as the lightning bolt dissipated, simply vanishing upon contact with the sphere. "We'll both have to fight. Now it thinks this guy came after both of us." A gleaming, white barrier shot down from above them, trapping them and their Navis-but missing Kaita and the others-within a cylinder of light.

"It?"

"The sensor that runs the Points of Convocation. We're stuck here until either our Navis are beaten or our attacker is." Meiru cringed, thinking about how she'd nearly pitted Roll against him. "Yeah, it was pretty dumb of you."

"But I've fought someone before, and this didn't happen! And why'd you give it such a silly name?" she protested, almost on autopilot while her eyes and ears were occupied with trying to see where the Navi was.

Also sounding unnaturally automatic was Black's explanation of, "Not me naming stuff, not my fault. If there's nobody else around save the fighters, a Point can get up to five miles in diameter. Little wonder you didn't see it." A rain cloud barely disturbed the treetops as it wafted up and toward them. Meiru realized that not only was the cloud probably another homing attack, but a normal Barrier chip would merely protect the Navi against a frontal attack that wasn't coming. It seemed Black had the same idea. "Dream Aura, slot-in!"

"Waste of a good chip," shot Meiru. "Reflector, slot-in!"

"And that hard hat won't get eaten away by what I presume is a big ol' lump of acid rain?"

Meiru just smirked as the cloud-seeming larger than it had before-began to dump rain. The two Operators were protected by whatever Black had rigged up, raindrops vanishing a foot above their heads. "That was a lightning bolt coming for us, stupid. A_ lightning bolt_."

"Oh!" The giant hard hat summoned by Reflector was starting to look a little holey, like Black had predicted, but he wasn't the only one right. A pair of white lances of electricity crashed down on the Dream Aura and the Reflector. One of those attacks bounced right back to break up the cloud. "Nice one!" Before Meiru could begin to wonder why he was complimenting her all of a sudden, he asked, "Think it's a dual-type?"

"I've never heard of a Navi like that," Meiru said skeptically. A ball of water suddenly bounced out of the trees, heading straight for Punk. The Navi took a few steps backward, then threw a shoulder plate at it. It harmlessly popped, but that wasn't the extent of the attack. From the other side of the clearing, a mob of lightning bolts streamed for the spiky discus. It dropped to the ground, its return trip cut off.

Punk apparently knew better than to just walk right into whatever trap was set up there. Instead, he barked, "All right, you two, quit playin' games! Show yourselves!"

"Two?" asked a girlish voice from his left-the owner of the water ball. From the trees emerged a small, innocent-looking figure, clad in soft tones of blue that were barely darker than her pale blue face. The darker accents to the look were her eyes, a trio of dark circles on her beanie, a circle on her chest that rimmed her Navi symbol, and the polka dots on her tights. Otherwise, her dress, hair, and hat were one uniform pastel blue. "There's only me-it's Cirrus, by the way-and Kumoko-chan here, and she's no Navi."

Punk looked from Cirrus to Black. Upon meeting his Navi's eye, the hacker gave him a small nod. "Oh, really? And if she's no threat, where is this Operator of yours?"

"Taking cover, of course. Do you expect her to just sit and wait for one of you two to go for her?"

"My Operator and I do expect her to show up at her Navi's fight. Where is she?"

While Cirrus gave another response similar to the one she'd given Punk before, Black quietly told Meiru, "He's going to stall while Roll goes in there and finds the Elec Navi that's firing those bolts."

The rational part of Meiru's mind had to admit that it was a good plan. The prideful part rankled at who had suggested it. "And what makes you think you can tell us what to do?"

"Because otherwise, we could be sitting here all day. You've gotta admit, my way's a little more appealing." Meiru grudgingly gave him a short nod of agreement. "You won't get a visual of what's going on in there, but whatever Roll hears'll be coming through loud and clear, and she'll be able to hear us."

The teen sighed, "All right, already... Roll?"

"He's right. I heard all of that, but it doesn't look like Cirrus did." Punk was still playing the where's-your-Operator card with Cirrus, but the girlish Navi looked like she was beginning to get impatient with the questioning. "I'm ready when you are, Meiru-chan."

Black drew a Battlechip out from his jacket pocket. "Well, that means there's no reason to keep this up. Thunder Ball, slot-in!" It was obvious that Cirrus was a fast Navi; her agility would've easily gotten her out of harm's way if it weren't for Punk's cable arm stopping her from escaping to the left. She didn't even notice as Roll ran past her and into the shady forest beyond.

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Deeper in the forest, Roll slipped between the trees and stepped over roots, hoping that the Navi she was looking for wasn't just behind one of the numerous trunks. If he was, she'd be toast. The ground here was covered in leaves and twigs, and little crunching sounds came from underfoot every time she took a step. Anyone who was listening for her would know where she was in an instant, making her progress sound incredibly loud to her ears. While she was worrying about that, a root poking out of the ground ensnared her boot, and she couldn't suppress a tiny cry as she flailed about in an attempt to regain her footing-

"What was that?" Roll freed her foot just in time and concealed herself as best she could-crunch, crunch, stupid leaves, _stupid leaves_-to watch as a dark-haired woman in a yellow-and-blue sundress and rubber rain boots crashed through the brush and into the spot where her opponent had just been. At her heels was a Navi that was Cirrus's opposite in every way. He was a dark and towering figure, yellow eyes peering out from under his dark gray helmet and a bright yellow mohawk poking out of its top.

They were heading closer to her, and she was in no position to make a quiet escape. Abandoning any form of stealth, she whipped out her crossbow and cried, "Roll Arrow!"

"Nimbus, watch out!" The brawny Navi ducked behind a tree, and Roll shielded her face with an arm as splinters flew everywhere. Another of Nimbus's homing lightning bolts shot toward her, prompting Roll to move to the side. However, a tree kept her from getting far. She barely managed to duck in time, leaving scorched bark where her Navi symbol had been. Nimbus pounded toward her, occasionally stumbling over a root or plant. Roll continued back toward the sounds of Punk's fight, Nimbus firing bolts at her... But he'd stopped following. The pink-clad Navi moved a little ways to her left to be sure. Nimbus went to his right, but he wasn't going forward. She bit her lip as she tried to think of a plan, but any thoughts along those lines were chased away when Kumoko called, "Wide Shot, slot-in!" Roll yelped as she made a narrow dodge, the burst of water whistling past her helmet to smash into a pair of trees above her, cleaving them in half. "Nimbus isn't going anywhere, little Navi," Kumoko informed her opponent. "But since you're here, I might as well just send you back to your PET!"

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"Aqua Ball!" Cirrus's attack had barely formed when Punk's remaining shoulder plate sliced into it, showering both Navis with water. The Aqua Navi didn't have time to spare on worrying about her failed attack. Her opponent's cable arm stabbed toward her left leg, and she jumped to the right. It followed, forming a hook shape that would've yanked her feet into the air if not for her speedy jump. As it was, it uncurled itself, seemingly to try tripping her once again. On her next evading jump, though, she looked down to see that she hadn't been in any danger-Punk had scooped up his fallen shoulder plate and tossed it toward himself, catching it with his normal arm before sending it at her in the air. Cirrus looked down at the spiked discus in disbelief, and Meiru could understand why. When he was in battle, Punk never seemed to stop. Quickly, the slender Navi pulled her knees to her chest and touched her feet down right where the weapon's surface was flat, pushing off to send her speeding sideways.

_"Meiru-chan!"_ The teen's attention was finally taken away from the impressive-but fruitless on both sides-Netbattle.

"Roll, what's going on?"

_"Nngh-"_ Meiru looked down at her PET, worried, but it was the same blank display as ever. _"I'm fine. But I can't get Nimbus moving on my own-I need a Battlechip."_

"See how he likes this." Meiru drew out what she figured was the best Battlechip for the job. "Bamboo Lance, slot-in!"

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Roll grinned. "Bamboo Lance!" One of the Wood-element attack's spears hit Nimbus on the side when he tried to shelter Kumoko, and more popped up behind him. His only choice was to carry his Operator under his arm and try dodging forward. While he was occupied by her Battlechip, Roll jumped up into one of the branches and leapt over the affected area, landing behind Nimbus and Kumoko just as the bamboo retreated back into the ground. "Only one way to go now-Heart Slash!" The width of the attack meant that Nimbus was forced to retreat further back. Before he or Kumoko could think of trying anything to counter it, Roll got back into their sights to send another swarm of hearts at them. "Meiru-chan, I'm getting close!"

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Black glanced over as Meiru received Roll's report. "Good." Just as Punk sent both shoulder plates at Cirrus, trapping her in one spot, he called, "Mag Bolt, slot-in!" Cirrus tried to jump away again, but the magnet that had appeared on Punk's arm sent her flying toward him instead. "Elec Sword!" The Mag Bolt had drawn her too close to dodge; she shrieked in pain as the super-effective attack hit. That wasn't the only thing that struck the Aqua Navi. Punk raised one shoulder plate to defend himself as a few hearts shot out from the forest, Nimbus crashing through moments later with Kumoko looking horrified under his shoulder.

"Roll Arrow!" Her attack buried its heart-shaped tip into Nimbus's helmet as Roll emerged from the forest and leapt past her opponents to return to Punk's side.

Cirrus grinned. "Bringing us together was your last mistake! Condensation!" While her partner yanked the Roll Arrow out of his helmet, she lifted both hands over her head. In her palms, wisps of cloud were beginning to form. The finished cloud was nothing like the large one that she'd produced at the beginning of the battle-Punk had taken the opportunity to send both of his shoulder plates at her, which knocked her out of her pose. Roll's Heart Slash dissipated the tiny cloud before she turned her attention back to Nimbus, using the Area Steal Meiru sent over to flash into range before her Bamboo Sword slashed home. The bulky Navi groaned, sporting a deep cut in his gray armor, before sending a pair of lightning bolts at her with wordless grunts. Roll jumped away, but the bolts followed her.

His teammate crashed to the ground, and Punk only needed a moment's glance to see that her paralysis was strong. It would take her some time to fight it off, and until then it was two against one. It didn't worry him too much. Knowing that Cirrus was too fast to be ensnared by his cable-normally his first choice for this maneuver, as she was lighter-he wrapped it around Nimbus's leg and pulled with all of his strength, but he was quickly forced to abandon the tactic. Nimbus's bulk had barely managed to topple over, and Cirrus was back on the offensive. He raised his shoulder plate just in time for an Aqua Sword to ram into it, sending a small jolt through Punk's body. From it, he could tell that Cirrus's lightweight status extended to the force behind her more physical attacks. He shoved the red discus into her, throwing her backward. Then he heard something whistle through the air and looked over to see Nimbus's fist, freshly materialized from his Area Steal, slam into his face. He staggered backward, trying not to fall over. As his vision cleared, he saw a huge rain cloud closing in from above.

"Barrier, slot-in!" Punk let himself fall onto the ground, his weight thudding into the mud as he materialized the barrier in front of him-which now covered the air. Cirrus's acid rain dinged into the energy wall while Punk brought his knees up to his chest, ready for when his protection dissipated. He flipped to a standing position, dodging Nimbus's waiting fist with ease while keeping an eye out for Cirrus. He didn't have anything to worry about. Roll had gotten Cirrus off his case, and her wider-ranged attacks were doing what Punk's more focused ones couldn't, keeping Cirrus down so a stronger attack could hit her.

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A little further away from this skirmish, the two Operators were taking in their opponents' situation. Cirrus looked exhausted, but Kumoko didn't seem worried. "What is she up to?" Black wondered, looking at her confident expression.

"I don't-" Meiru began, but then she noticed what they and their Navis had been too busy to. This Point was small, and it was keeping the water from flowing away. Water that was leaking from Cirrus's feet and beginning to rise to where it covered the ground entirely. She wondered why she hadn't noticed her feet getting wet and looked down to see Black's barrier at work again, keeping both Operators dry while the ground flooded. Kumoko hadn't moved-something that would've alerted her opponents much earlier-and Meiru realized, "Of course. Those rubber boots."

Black sent a Rolling Log to Punk before asking, "What are you-oh. Oh, no." The plan was clear to him, too: Cirrus would jump up while Nimbus fried their Navis, and Kumoko would be well-protected by her insulated boots. "Let's see if we can't work a little friendly fire into that plan of theirs. Punk, keep an eye out for Nimbus, but focus on Cirrus!"

"You too, Roll! Don't let her off the ground!" Nimbus was already beginning to build up power. Punk gestured for Roll to attack first, and she did so with pleasure, knocking the already-weakened Cirrus to the ground with a splash. Then, Punk wrapped his cable arm around her legs and dragged her over to them. From there, both Navis tensed in preparation for the jump that would hopefully send them clear of the attack. Their free opponent saw what had happened, but he couldn't hold his charge in. The water hissed with steam beneath Roll and Punk as Nimbus let loose with a yell-and Punk hurled his burden down to get zapped. Nimbus halted his attack as quickly as he could, but the damage had been done. Exhausted, smoke hissing from her numerous burns, Cirrus was helpless as Roll closed in on her.

"Flame, Aqua, Elec, and Bamboo Swords, slot-in!" Meiru shouted.

"Elemental Sword!" Roll cried as her hand transformed into a deceptively normal-looking sword. The four cuts she made were all devastating, but her Elec-element hit was what tore into Cirrus most deeply. Milliseconds later, her tattered body morphed into the word 'LOGOUT' and vanished. One of her opponents finished off, she turned to assist Punk in dealing with Nimbus. He didn't seem to need it, though. The slower Navi was getting hit by every attack Punk dealt. Behind the tiring Navi in gray, Kumoko's eyes narrowed, and she raised her PET to speak into it.

"Whatever she wants, don't let him carry it out!" Meiru said, sending her Navi a Forest Bomb. Nimbus was starting to pound forward, and even catching the green seed Roll threw right in his face didn't stop him.

"Double-Go-Round!" yelled Punk, hurling both shoulder plates into Nimbus's chest. The gray Navi staggered back, then shot forward with the aid of an Area Steal, winding up in Black and Meiru's faces.

Roll stared at the bulky Navi with wide eyes as he drew back both massive fists, but his Operator only laughed and yelled, "There's no rule against attacking the Operators! Go ahead, Nimbus!" Meiru drew back from the Navi as he hurled his fists forward, but Black just smirked and shook his head.

"Relax, Meiru-chan. He can't get through." A pained, confused howl from above them caused the Operators to look up. The sight that waited for them garnered a raised eyebrow from Black and a cringe from Meiru. Blue pixels flashed in front of them, still inside Nimbus's arms-both of which had vanished from the elbow down. Black shrugged. "Well, I thought he couldn't. I guess it still needs work..."

"Is he stuck to it?" Meiru asked, tentatively coming closer to the Navi.

"Sort of. Your head's right over where his left hand would be, if we were still in the Dimensional Area."

Kumoko came splashing over as fast as she could. "What have you done to him?!" she asked, staring at her seemingly handless Navi in horror.

Roll and Punk came closer to the scene as well. "That isn't just a barrier, is it?" Roll asked.

"I don't really understand the science of it, but he says he's set his PET to broadcast a signal that cancels the Dimensional Area around him. Anything digital in origin just disappears. He said Navis would just bounce off, but I guess Nimbus was strong enough to get 'imself in there deep."

"Just what Punk said. Nimbus is pretty much stuck," Black informed Kumoko without a hint of remorse. "If we cut his arms off, I'm not sure if he'd last long enough to reach the docks, much less wait for the boat to take you guys back. And I'm not having your Navi stumble along after me all tournament long. Deleting him's the only real option. Punk?"

He lifted his mace, and Meiru saw the panic on Kumoko's face. "Wait!" The redhead protested, "That can't be the only way. Don't our Navis return to their PETs when their hit points get low enough? Let's at least try that before deleting him..."

"Fine, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. We'll try your idea." He slotted in a Forest Bomb while Roll readied her crossbow. "Go ahead, Punk." The two Navis' attacks caused Nimbus's grimace to grow more pained before he vanished completely. Kumoko looked down at her PETs-tattered Cirrus in one and forearm-free Nimbus in the other-and sped off as the white barrier of the Point vanished without a word of thanks. Mary and Kaita ran up to the four, their Navis close behind them. Now that he had his complete audience in front of him, something in Black's bearing seemed to harden. He smirked and pulled an ice-blue card out of his pocket. It had a silver '9' on it and, above it, the words 'Castillo de Jalero' in gleaming cursive. "Stay in it," he told Meiru. "It's like I said before: when I kick your ass...or you kick mine, slightly less probable things have happened...I want it to be in front of all the finalists." He slipped the card back into his jacket pocket and turned away from the group. "Later, Meiru-chan!"

Meiru watched him for a long moment, mulling it over as he and his Navi walked far enough away for the brush and the gloom to swallow their figures. "You can stay together," she finally told Mary and Kaita. "There're only two of you, so it won't be that hard to find two different cards. As for me and Roll, well..." She grinned at the spot where he had vanished. "We can't just let him win without a fight."

"Of course not," Roll agreed. "We'll show him how it's done!" She turned to the other four. "Good luck, guys," she said.

"Yep. See you in the finals!" chimed in Meiru. With that, the Operator slung her bag over her shoulder, and the two headed off in the opposite direction of Black. They turned back to give their friends one last wave, then vanished into the forest.

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"What do you think we should do?" Kaita asked the other three after Meiru and Roll had left.

"I don't know," Mary said. "It sounds like we have a better chance of finding cards if we split up, but..."

"We shouldn't," Ring cut in. "For you guys' sake-especially yours, Mary-chan. This place is really dangerous. I mean, just look at what happened to Meiru-san and Black! And I know I can't keep as good a guard as both me and Turboman would. Besides, it's like Meiru-san said, it won't be so bad if we just need two cards. And it'll be a lot more fun to have you guys around instead of just the two of us!" she finished brightly.

Kaita looked unsure, but Turboman nodded. "You're right. It'll be safer that way," he said.

Mary nodded her head in agreement, and Kaita said, "I guess so. Which way should we go, then?"

"Hmm..." Ring spun in place a few times, her eyes shut, then opened them when she finally stopped. "That way's good as any!" With that, the four started heading in that direction, leaving the clearing behind.


	7. I Only Pick Battles that I'll Win

Yumi and Arrow's first acts upon waking up had been geared toward dashing their boatmate's tournament dreams, which wasn't a difficult task. They were quick to put the shoreline behind them, leaving the kid wailing in their dust. The more roots and bushes she found, the more Yumi appreciated Black's warning. She knew that if she had been wearing her normal, heeled boots, she would have been sprawled on the ground more times than she'd be able to count by now.

"So, you think Black has entered?" asked Arrow.

"We can't tell for sure." Yumi shrugged. "I'm just saying, if I knew someone that good was here ahead of time, I wouldn't stop at having him 'oversee a Netbattling tournament' or whatever."

Arrow nodded. "I know. That Navi of his would be wasted behind the scenes-" She paused. A deep rumbling was beginning to fill the air. "What's that?" The sound wasn't stopping; instead, it was growing into a low, regular thudding. The green archer narrowly managed to pick her Operator up with both arms and leap out of the way before a giant Rabbi virus left twin foot-shaped craters in the space they'd vacated.

Staring up at it in a sort of wary fascination, Yumi commented, "Well. That was interesting."

Arrow nodded in agreement, staring up at the monstrous rabbit that had nearly flattened her Operator. Moments later, to her surprise, she noticed something gleaming on top of its round body. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing at the thing that was shining in the sun. It was the same shade of pink as the virus it traveled on, and looked much like a keycard that one would find at a hotel.

"No clue," Yumi responded truthfully as Arrow set her down. "I'd almost say that someone lost their room key. That thing certainly looks big enough to plow through the local motel..." It was then that the proverbial light bulb went on. "Hey, you don't think it was put there on purpose, do you?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"It'd make a lot of sense..." mused Yumi, watching as a girl and her Navi sped past them. The Navi was hurling a Yo-yo at the card. But she'd retracted the spikes, clearly hoping to knock the keycard off the rabbit's head rather than shred it.

"We're reaching the end of the island," commented the girl. Sure enough, ahead of them was a cliff that dropped into the open ocean. "It'll have to turn around, Blanca, and then we'll get that card!"

From there, Yumi knew it would only be a matter of time before ownership of the card changed hands again. Grinning, she nodded at Arrow, and the two retreated to a better-hidden spot.

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The manufactured desert's heat was of no concern to Atsuki. He knew what the real thing felt like, and this was nothing in comparison. Even the other effect the area had was no big deal; since it seemed to halve the Navi's speed, it simply meant that Burnerman couldn't build up enough momentum to use Burning Jet for much other than hovering. His flames shot out to eliminate most of the viruses just fine, and Atsuki had plenty of Cannon chips to clean up the rest.

Atsuki's opponents, on the other hand, seemed to find the conditions incredibly concerning. The desert, by its nature, didn't provide a lot of cover, and plenty of other Operator-Navi pairs had been attracted by the sight of Atsuki's newly-claimed key. The sand hindered most of the Operators' running-they were so slow that it was, Atsuki thought, like seeing ten of Black-but it was that halved speed that really impeded progress. The Navis were slipping behind.

"No rules out here, are there?" he asked Burnerman, slotting in an AkaTsunami.

"None," confirmed Burnerman, glancing down at his hands as he received the chip. The two waited as the Operators pulled further ahead, far out of the range where their Navis could possibly try to protect them. None of them bothered to look back. "What should I do about the two behind us?"

"I'll take care of them," Atsuki said, unable to suppress a predatory grin. They watched the Operators approach for a moment longer. "I think they're close enough, don't you?"

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It had taken many hours of hard work, but Danielle had finally done it. The mysterious card was hers! Its pinkish glow died down as it fell off the oversized virus, dropping to her feet as she raced over to pick it up. As she did, though, the glow returned, focusing its light... on her? Probably to show that she was its owner. She put it in her right shorts pocket, letting its tip stick out a little. "Now, to find someone who can tell us what this goes to..." Danielle was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the young woman running toward her until they smacked into each other. "Oof!"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" apologized the brunette, getting up and dusting herself off. Blanca could've sworn that she'd put something in her left front pocket as she did, but the pocket was unusually deep for her style of pants; it was impossible to tell. "I was trying to find a friend of mine-I think a pack of Garru might've gotten him-but I should've paid attention to where I was going. I'm sorry, but I've just _got_ to find him!"

"Um, okay!" The woman was gone before Danielle could say anything else. "We sure were lucky to find that card so soon, huh?" she asked Blanca as the pair walked on.

"Really. I don't think we could find another!"

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Yumi made sure that a large amount of brush separated her from her victims' eyes before she veered left for a few yards, where Arrow was waiting for her. She fished the stolen card out of her pocket so that the two could give it a closer examination. "Huh. It really is a room key!" In the center of the key was a silver '16', and above it were the words 'Castille de Jalero' in cursive print of the same color. Its opposite side had a strip to swipe into a lock, along with a warning that the key could not be duplicated. The pink-and-silver card didn't seem to notice that it had changed hands-its light shone in the same direction that it had for Danielle, straight toward the center of the island. "So, we go there next?"

"Looks like it."

"But everyone else is looking for these, too..." Yumi thought on it for a moment. "If we stick around and wipe out the other contestants, Black and Atsuki will have less competition, and it'll be more fun for us than sitting around waiting for the others to get their keys. What do you say?"

Arrow grinned. "Sounds like a plan!"


	8. I'm Always Up for Adventure

Now that Meiru and Roll had a mission-finding their own passage to the finals, and exacting total humiliation of that infuriating, creepy pair from Nova while there-they were covering ground far faster than they had starting out. The crisp, salty sea air became easier and easier to taste as they continued on after splitting up from Kaita and his friends, and by the end of the afternoon she and Roll were looking out over the ocean.

"How far out do you think we are?" she wondered, peering at the skyline. The dimming sky connected with the dark ocean miles from where they were, with not even a speck between the two stretches of blue.

"There's no telling after that boat trip," Roll said. "We might not even be faced in the right direction to see Japan."

"Yeah..." She gazed out at the water for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't mind following the coast for a while."

"It's fine with me!"

They hadn't been traveling long when a faint roar sounded from somewhere ahead and to their left. "I wonder if they've found someone else," Meiru said, thinking of the swarm that had assaulted them before.

As they continued on, the roars came closer, but no attack cries came. "That's strange. It doesn't sound like anyone's attacking back." Roll could see that she wasn't the only one whose curiosity was piqued; both she and her Operator stopped to wait for another sound, but they heard nothing but the animal-like cries. "If they're attacking themselves, that's awfully lazy programming..." It seemed like Roll was right. A bird wearing a gray-striped cap and opaque sunglasses zoomed out of the trees, jets of flame and the pack of Garrus that were spewing them following. The blue bird was clumsily ducking and weaving, squawking in horror every time it got the chance. "Sheesh."

"Maybe it's supposed to simulate territory disputes, like real animals?" Meiru wondered. That was when the bird spotted them. It sped toward them, drawing the Garuu pack along with it, and Roll needed no prompting to act. She unleashed a Heart Slash attack on the mob, clearing away most of the wolves with ease. The bird zoomed past Navi and Operator, cowering behind Meiru's feet while Roll picked off the remnants of its attackers with her arrows.

"Piii," sighed the bird in a slightly nasal voice.

"What should we do with him?" Roll asked. He hopped backward, holding his wings in front of his face.

Meiru considered, "He could be trying to trick us..." The bird shook his head, jerking his limbs from side to side. "But he's kind of cute. And he seems harmless." She turned to her Navi. "Roll, why don't you scan him? That's the only way we can know for sure."

"Good idea." Roll approached the bird. He still seemed fearful, but he didn't resist when she picked him up. "This'll just tingle a little, okay?" She extended her two antennae to touch the sides of the bird's gray cap. He giggled as she sifted through his data, information streaming up the yellow bands to her in zeroes and ones. "He's some kind of program. And whoever made him encrypted him really well-I can barely make any sense out of this!" Roll concentrated for a moment longer, then withdrew her antennae. "His name's Beat, and he's a 'support program.' I don't think he can do any damage..."

"Pi pi," he agreed, trying to look as saintly as possible.

"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you," Meiru said. "Besides, we could use some support trying to find one of those keys. This place is huge!"

"Pi?" Beat seemed to know what they were talking about. He wriggled one wing free of Roll's grip and pointed ahead. "Pipi pi!" The path went on for some time before the trio came to a silvery wall. Meiru could tell from the pixelated way it reflected the sunlight that it was digital in origin. "Pi pi!" Beat crowed, satisfied.

"So there's one here..." Roll surveyed the area. "I guess the entrance is in the forest." Beat chirped his agreement and wriggled free of the blonde Navi's grip, eager to lead the way. By the time Meiru and Roll had forced their way through the brush surrounding the wall, the blue bird was waiting in front of an impressive archway. It was flanked by two massive spears made of faux wood, and more digital logs formed a portcullis. The huge gate was swung open to reveal a grassy field inside, awaiting any challenger.

The three could hear thumps and bangs coming from within. Meiru only allowed herself a moment longer to listen before she said, "Ready, Roll?"

"You bet. Are you coming along, Beat?" The bird fluffed himself out importantly, though it reminded Roll and her Operator more of an inflating beach ball with wings. Taking that as a 'yes,' Roll said, "Let's go."

The portcullis swung shut the moment Meiru and the other two had cleared the entrance. If things went bad, there was no going back. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the two girls and the bird to wish there was a way out. The thing making the pounding they'd heard before fit with the wooden gate. Four giant logs crashed down two at a time, propelling the tiny, boxy body on top of the stilt-like legs forward at a fast clip. It seemed to be making a loop around the wall as Meiru, Roll, and Beat walked inside, putting it just behind them when it abandoned its previous path to come crashing toward them.

The three were petrified for a moment as they watched the monster pound closer. Finally, Meiru said, "Run."

Beat tore ahead of the other two, squawking all the way. He nearly smacked into the first obstacle that came up: a silver wall like the ones that fenced them in. Though there still didn't seem to be a ceiling, it was too high for even a Navi to jump. Roll saw the entrance soon after she reached it, but she and Meiru both realized that they wouldn't make it with the four-legged virus coming at them.

"Battlechip: Rabi Ring!" Roll raised her arm to fire almost before Meiru had finished getting the chip in. The projectile itself caught one of the crevasses in the monster's log leg, skidding off to the side before vanishing in a flurry of pixels, but its effect wasn't so easily shaken: the behemoth froze mid-step. Unable to balance in that position, it toppled with a resounding thud. "I don't see anything there to help it up," the redhead said triumphantly. "Let's get moving."

"I don't know..." Roll said, "I have a bad feeling about this." She had a right to worry after the log monster's body was surrounded by a faint, white light before disappearing. When it warped back, it was standing again, though still paralyzed. Meiru and her Navi needed no further motivation to start running for the doorway. Even that provided short relief. They were just met by another wall, and they wasted precious seconds looking for the doorway while the thuds started back up behind them. When they reached the next wall, the two girls were surprised to see that it was semi-transparent, showing them the next few doorways in addition to the one they needed to find. Knowing where to head saved them plenty of time. "Why would he make it easier, though?" Roll wondered as they cleared the second-to-last doorway.

"Pi!" Meiru and Roll looked over to see that their new friend's sunglasses were glowing a soft blue. As they crossed the final opening, Beat's glasses faded, and the other two found the walls opaque once more when they looked back.

Meiru grinned, ruffling the feathers poking out of Beat's cap. "Neat!" The bird modestly rubbed the back of its head and blushed before joining the other two in ascending the huge staircase that awaited them. Meiru's dread of whatever was on top grew as the number of stairs she climbed grew more and more, and she wasn't disappointed. Numerous pillars rose from a thick cloud cover, obscuring whatever was below. After the climb, the human was looking forward to jumping across even less than her digital companions. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, trying to figure out the best way to get across. "That's just stupid," she muttered, trying to peer through the clouds. "I know we're not that high." Giving up on trying to see how bad a fall would be, she took a few steps backward-and nearly fell over right there. They were actually higher than the wooden machine now, but that didn't stop it trying to get them. It plowed relentlessly into the stairs, which slowed but didn't stop it. Meiru charged forward and jumped onto the pillar, nearly falling over on impact. She sighed with relief, but that didn't last long-now, it was starting to move. Roll had been right behind her, and Beat flapped above their heads as usual. When the next pillar got within jumping range, they wasted no time in crossing. Though it was tiring, Meiru figured she'd gotten the hang of this one after a while-all she had to do was concentrate on getting the timing right.

"Meiru-chan, look out!" Her focus was lost as she looked up and dropped flat to the pillar's top after seeing what her Navi had seen. A huge, birdlike virus with a metallic sheen to its gray body swooped over her head, yellow claws outstretched.

"Royhawks," she groaned. Staying as close to the ground as she could, she reached for a pair of Battlechips. "Satellite, double slot-in!"

"Get 'em!" With that shout from Roll, the green orbs floated into the Royhawks' midst before releasing electricity from their yellow prongs. With the cloud of viruses weakened, the Navi called, "Get ready to jump! Heart Slash!" Meiru managed to land just in time. The pillar began to inch away as Roll unleashed the swarm of hearts on her attackers. While her Operator would've had cause to worry, she managed to clear the gap with a powerful jump. The next one was the last, to everyone's relief. Chewing up all of those pillars meant that their pursuer was far behind them, so Meiru could take the stairs down at a slower rate than she had before.

"It looks harmless," she panted, looking around at the meadow they'd reached. "I'm sure there're spears or something waiting to shoot up and get us." Small, white wildflowers and a herd of Marumokos gave it a peaceful look, and nothing burst out to shatter that when Meiru took a flashlight out of her backpack and threw it into the grass a little way away. She ran over to pick it up, Roll and Beat close behind, and put it away while they headed for the doorway.

Roll frowned. A few of the Marumokos had stopped grazing to glare at her. As they got closer, the number of angry sheep grew larger. "Meiru-chan?"

"Oh, no." With a blood-curdling baa, the largest Marumoko lowered its horns and charged. The rest followed its lead. An unwelcome grinding sound was coming from behind them; the virus chasing them was getting closer. "Uh, um... Aqua Tower, slot-in!" Roll threw out a Heart Slash first to shear off the mob's protective wool. From there, she slammed her fist into the ground a little harder than was necessary, but the result was still the same: a wave of water flooded from the spot, followed by a massive pillar that plowed into the oncoming Marumokos. Even with a path cleared, Meiru and Roll had to hurry. The other viruses were charging inward instead of forward to get at them, and it wouldn't take them long to catch up. The two were saved by a white platform that was too high for the Marumokos to jump up on.

"I hope this is the end," Roll said. It was another gauntlet of walls, and the entrance wasn't far. "All right, let's do this-"

"Pi pi!" Beat flew in front of them to stop them, then used his eagle eyes once again. This time, a number of mushroom-like objects attached to the walls glowed red-Chamaashu viruses.

"Thanks for the warning," Meiru said. "Heat Cross, slot in!" With the flamethrower on Roll's arm clearing out the viruses before they could release their gas, the group got through the walls much like they had before. At the end was a large, circular area with one sentence printed on the far wall: _Defeat the virus._

"That can't mean..." It did. The stomping machine warped into the center of the field and made a beeline for them.

Meiru took out three chips. "I've had it. Spread Gun, triple slot-in!"

"Program Advance: Hyper Burst!" The powerful stream of energy knocked the virus back and ripped a huge gash in its leg, but it was hardly down for the count. Roll decided, "Meiru-chan, I'm going to try widening that gap!"

"Good idea! Boomerang, slot in!" Roll buried the projectile into the gash. When it vanished, data leaked out even faster. While Meiru selected the next chip, Roll fired some of her signature heart-tipped arrows into her target. Her Operator called, "Cross Gun, slot in!" The pellet of light Roll fired split into ten or twenty smaller ones, peppering the behemoth's weakened point. "And to finish it off, Neo Variable!"

"Sonic Boom!" Roll only managed to fire two of the golden waves before her sword disappeared, but it was enough. The leg fell with a resounding boom and vanished. With no way to support its weight, the virus toppled before shattering into pixels. It left a small, shimmering object behind. "The key!"

"Yes!" Meiru cheered. She plucked it out of the air before it could hit the ground. This one was brown with a green '4' and inscription. She flipped it over to find a warning that challengers attempting to make copies of the key would be disqualified. "How could you even-" As the shimmering died down, a beam of light began to form from the top corner, pointing toward the center of the island. "Ah. It's digital." She pushed her soaked hair out of her face with one hand and fanned herself with the key, whose guiding beam stayed fixated on the same spot. "This place had better have AC and showers."


	9. I Think Zombies Are Kinda Weird

Kaita didn't understand it at all. The day had been bright and sunny, ideal for a day outside - if not for the heat and the fact that there was no going inside when he and his friends got tired of it. The Operators had been a bit worried about what Black had said after going for a day without running into a key or another person, but Ring and Turboman had convinced them that they couldn't give up after just one day. Besides, they'd found lots of viruses, and Ring was positive that if there were viruses, there had to be a key sometime soon. The viruses and lack of keys weren't what was odd to Kaita, though. He'd always associated fog with cooler weather, so finding some curling around his shoes seemed very strange.

He wasn't the only one who noticed. "How odd!" Ring said, kicking some and sending it swirling around.

"I know," Kaita agreed. "I thought you only got fog in winter."

"You can get it all the time, just depends on where you are," Ring explained. "But it's caused when the temperature's about as low or high as the dew point-and it's the middle of the day, how's that supposed to happen? Just because the dew point might be high doesn't mean the temperature won't be higher." As if to prove her wrong, the fog started getting thicker.

"It was hard to believe before, but this is ridiculous!" Turboman's boots had disappeared under a blanket of fog, and most of the scenery was starting to follow. "This can't be human-world stuff." Kaita and Mary had their arms out in front of them, trying not to bump into any shrouded trees. "Kaita-kun, stay close. I have a bad feeling about this."

Ring looked around, just as worried as Turboman was. Then, she shrugged. "Well, it's just as bad behind us as it is ahead of us. Nothing we can do but keep on go-oh!" A blurred figure was walking out to meet them, keeping its feet close to the ground. Kaita could understand-there were plenty of roots waiting to snag a foot. "Hello there! I'm Ring, this ravishing young lady is Mary-chan, and those two are Kaita and Turboman. We're lost, and I was thinking maybe..." The figure finally neared them enough for the fog to let its features through. Its skin was pale, discolored by bruises on the side of its face. "...you could..." It looked very dead.

"Turbo Wheel!" But the two wheels didn't come off of Turboman's shoulders. He straightened his arms again, puzzled. Meanwhile, the zombie came closer. Another one was close behind it.

"Wha-" Ring spread her arms and focused, trying to activate her Ring Boomerang attack. "Our attacks aren't working? But why..."

"It's the fog," Turboman realized.

"If normal attacks don't work, try this! Battlechip: Shotgun!" The gun formed on Turboman's arm, but began to flicker almost immediately. More zombies lurched closer from behind them as the Shotgun, little more than a blue blob, finally reverted back into Turboman's bronze hand. Kaita and Mary both backed away, but they bumped into their Navis after a few steps. The boy asked, "Now what?"

"I think we run," Ring said. There was open space to the left, and the Operators and Navis headed for it. Mary shrieked as a zombie touched her with a clammy hand, but Ring scooped her up and continued on before it could get any closer. A zombie dove into their midst, parting them.

Kaita looked about and could only see three blurry figures instead of his friends. The vaguely Turboman-shaped one called, "Guys! Come back, we need to stay close!"

"Don't you think we're trying?" Ring shouted. Kaita tried to head for her voice, but what he took to be Ring turned out to be much paler and more tattered. The zombie swung around to face him, and he wasted no time backing away. A branch rustled as he backed against it. Its leaves were turning brown; being in the light-obstructing fog didn't seem to do wonders for photosynthesis. Kaita ducked under it, then pulled it back as far as he could and waited. The zombie lurched closer and closer.

"Now!" The branch knocked the zombie to the ground. It didn't seem to know how to get up, instead seeming to be trying to walk into the sky. Kaita stared at it for a moment, then ran to catch up to the group. "Guys? Guys!"

"Over here!" Mary called. Kaita ran over to see her and Turboman. All three felt even more relieved when Ring stumbled into their midst, though that didn't last.

"There're a bunch of 'em on my tail!" They didn't wait around to see if Ring was right. In the fog, there was no telling whether they were going in circles or really getting further away. Sometimes, they'd stop only to hear something rustle, spooking them into continuing on.

"I think we've lost them," Turboman said after they'd gotten completely turned around. Something small and blue suddenly hurtled out of the fog and into Turboman's face. His "Yikes!" was barely audible over its screech of terror.

"There're viruses out here, too?" Kaita wondered. The 'virus' squawked indignantly and shook his head-but since his limbs were all attached to the head, he just seemed to jerk from side to side in midair.

"Lemme see this," Ring said. Her two pigtails lifted up to touch the bird on either side of his head. She made a number of faces before she got her answer. "He's a support program," she reported. "Named Beat."

"Pi!" Beat agreed. A groaning from nearby alerted the group to the incoming zombies, but their newest member's ability was as good as dispelling the fog-the zombies were lit red and the trees blue, showing a clear path away from danger. When the zombies approached, Turboman and Ring were ready to fend them off, though nothing could make their enemies any weaker. Still, Kaita and Mary remained unharmed. They were surprisingly close to the exit, passing through a thick cloud before seeing the rainbow light of the Dimensional Area, grass, and trees again. Kaita looked back to see that the fog was like a solid wall behind them.

"Piiiii..." sighed Beat.

"At least that was the last of it," Turboman said. Mary knocked on a nearby tree.

"Why do you think that fog was there, anyway?" Kaita asked.

"There must be a key in there somewhere," Mary said. "I don't know who could get at it, though."

The word 'key' seemed to have restored Kaita's confidence. "Maybe I could."

"Maybe not," Turboman said firmly. "You can't just shrug off how close they got to you guys. Ring-chan and I may be able to take whatever hits they dish out, but you and Mary-chan can't. If we keep going, I'm sure we'll wind up finding another key."

"But what if they're all like this?" Kaita countered. "The zombies don't move fast-this could even be the easy one."

Before his friends could argue, the group heard the crashing sounds of something humanoid pushing through the forest. "Someone's coming!" The Navis tensed, ready for another attack, and their Operators were quick to get behind them this time.

From out of the bushes came a girl in a red-and-brown dress. A Navi with golden hair and a grass skirt followed her. "Other people! Hey, guys..." The girl froze. Directly in her sights was Beat. "_Whoa!_" Before Kaita and Mary could even return her greeting, she was peering down into Beat's face. "Oooh, nice." The dark-haired girl grabbed Beat by the head feathers and yanked him up, ignoring his squawks of pain. As she examined him, lifting his wings up and even hoisting him overhead to check his claws, she noted, "Hmm... definitely not unintentional... not really a virus, he's too smart for that. Some sort of support program, I'd say." Beat's squawking was cut short when the girl's tan hands abruptly released him and he fell to the ground. He quickly scurried behind Kaita and Mary, occasionally squeaking indignantly to himself. He didn't have anything to worry about; the girl's earlier enthusiasm was completely gone. "Not the sort of thing we usually look for. Sorry for bothering you."

Mary picked up the little bird, patting him on the head to calm him down. "Just who are you, anyway?" she asked, sharing Beat's annoyance.

"I'm Kalama, that's Pele, and we're virus wranglers!"

Kaita blinked. "Huh?"

"Cool!" Ring gave them an approving smile. "I always wanted to do that!"

"I don't even know what that is, Ring-chan," Mary said weakly.

"We capture viruses after school and tame them so they can be sold as pets," Pele explained.

"I don't know if I'd want a pet _virus_..." Turboman told Kaita.

Kalama just smiled and shook her head. "You'd be surprised. Cute Molokos, cool Garuus, Killer's Eyes for spying on your friends..." She sighed happily. "But they're not for nonbelievers. Someone as straight-laced as you wouldn't even begin to consider the possibilities!"

"Hey!" Turboman quickly amended, "I'd just like to see one before getting one, that's all!"

"I brought some in my PET, but they all got away," Kalama muttered quickly. More loudly, she said, "They were new ones, anyway. If we would've known about the Dimensional Area, we would've brought older ones." A hissing sound cut her off; the fog was swirling around the bushes, closing in on the group. "What's that?"

Ring immediately answered, "Bad." From behind them, trees and bushes were shaking as something crashed through.

Pele smirked. "I don't see what we have to worry about. Set fire to the trees, and whatever's coming goes down with 'em!"

"Navi attacks and Battlechips don't work in the fog," Kaita explained. "Besides, setting fire to the forest'll hurt us, too!"

Kalama sighed. "I guess you're right." A thick branch ripped away from one of the trees, exposing the monster responsible. The tanned Netbattler nearly backed into her Navi. "Eeek!"

Ring turned around to see if they could escape, but found more tattered bodies blocking the way. The group was surrounded, and the distance between the living and the undead was growing smaller. "Uh-oh."

"I guess we'll have to clear a path," Turboman said.

"Right over there!" Pele commanded. "Ready?" The three Navis charged forward, knocking the undead aside. A few of them dissolved into pixels as other zombies landed on top of them. One of the zombies closing in from the side lurched forward, and Kaita tried to duck under its swing-but another blow came from behind, sending him sprawling into the thick clouds clinging to the ground.

The other two Operators and Beat were staying as close as they could to the Navis; Kalama and Ring were practically carrying Mary between them. With three Navis at work instead of two, the group burst out of the fog faster than before. After putting a little more distance between themselves and the curtain of fog, in case it moved forward again, the humans sat down to rest.

Ring was kneeling next to Mary, trying to comfort her. One of the Navi's pink mittens was slowly rubbing circles on the girl's back as she took short, shallow breaths. "Mary-chan, we're okay now. Everything's going to be fine. Just calm down, okay?" Her breathing began to return to normal. Mary looked up to see Ring smiling reassuringly. "That's the way."

Kalama assumed Mary's breathing was just from panic. She gave the other girl a grin and a thumbs up. "Nothing to worry about! I think that's all of the fog." She next looked over at Turboman. "Hey, what's wrong?" He was looking from her to Ring to Mary to Pele, eyes wide.

"Kaita-kun-we lost him!" Turboman ran over to the edges of the fog, looking around frantically. "Kaita-kun, can you hear me? Kaita-kun!"

"When we were surrounded, just before you guys cleared the way," Mary remembered. Turboman's head snapped around, his full attention on her. "They got really close. One must've been able to knock him out or something..."

"I think I remember where that was... yeah. Thanks, Mary-chan," Turboman said quickly.

"Turboman, wait!" Ring called, but it was no use. The red Navi had already been swallowed up by the fog.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

The smoky gray fog seemed even thicker and more oppressive now that Turboman knew Kaita was lost somewhere in it. Though he was going at a fast clip, the red Navi was trying his hardest to remember exactly how far they'd gone. But the fog disguised distances and landmarks well, and soon Turboman was almost completely lost. "I swear it was somewhere around here," he said. The sound seemed muffled, like the fog was swallowing his voice up. "Kaita-kun, where are you? Come on, Kaita-kun..." He tripped over something and was sent sprawling to the ground. At first, he thought it was a root, but it had too much give and it was warm to the touch... "Kaita-kun?" He'd stumbled upon Kaita's legs, with the rest of him thankfully still attached. Keeping close to the ground, Turboman inched forward to see that the boy was face down, unconscious. The red Navi turned him over, careful not to hit his head on the ground. "Kaita-kun, wake up."

"Ow..."

"Kaita-kun!" He was rubbing his head; frantically, Turboman tried to remember how to check for a concussion. "Tracking! That's it! Kaita-kun, follow my hand," the Navi blurted, moving a gold-plated hand from side to side.

"I think you're supposed to do it slower," Kaita advised.

"But you're following it okay. That's what matters," Turboman said, jumping up to his feet and giving Kaita a hand.

Kaita laughed, "It's just a bruise. I'm fine." He took a few steps forward. "Are we lost?"

"Looks like it." Turboman looked around-nothing there but fog-then back down at Kaita. His Operator looked worried, and he remembered Ring comforting Mary; he had to at least try doing the same for Kaita. "Let's try this way," he said with more bravado than he felt, pointing to the southwest.

The black-haired boy grinned. "Sounds good!" The zombies seemed to have given up on their area. The forest was quiet and gloomy, with nothing but mist and the occasional bit of brush in their way. The fog was too dark for it to be anything but eerie, though. "Turboman, d'you see that?" Kaita asked suddenly, pointing ahead. Turboman squinted at the spot his Operator was indicating.

"I... Yeah, I do!" Taking Kaita's hand so they wouldn't get separated, Turboman strode ahead, saying, "That light, right? Maybe it's some kind of control center, so we can turn the fog off." Kaita had to jog to keep up with his Navi's pace, but they still didn't seem to get any closer to the pinprick.

"Everything looks a lot closer in this stuff than it really is," Kaita panted. "I dunno if it's gotten any bigger."

"No, it definitely has," Turboman said, still going ahead. "We just need to keep this up for another minute or two, and then we'll be crossing that finish line before you know it!" Before long, they had made it to a clearing dominated by a lighthouse. It looked like it was made from stone. There were stairs that led to a platform on the lower level and a huge, white bulb on the higher one. They weren't alone in the clearing, though. At least seven zombies were pacing around the lighthouse, and their attention had been drawn to Kaita and Turboman. "Over there!" They wasted no time climbing up the stairs. When they reached the platform in the middle, they saw their pursuers clustered a few feet away from the lighthouse's base, either unable or unwilling to come closer. "Looks like we're safe here," Turboman said.

Kaita's attention wasn't on the zombies. He'd found something more important: a smoky gray card sitting on a pillar in the platform's center. The '15' and inscription were a rusty red, and when Kaita picked it up, the beam of light that pointed to the northwest was the same color. "I knew it!" He turned the card over to see what was on the back. "Hey, Turboman, how do you think someone'd be able to copy it?" he wondered.

"Kaita-kun, what did you do?"

"Wha-nothing! I just picked this up, that's all."

Turboman looked from the stairs to the empty ground below. Every zombie had apparently gotten over its fear of the lighthouse. "Hang on!" Kaita yelped as his Navi grabbed him. His grip on the key tightened as he hung onto one of Turboman's tires for dear life. The red Navi wasted no time running to the edge of the platform and leaping off, leaving dents in the grass behind him when he sped away.

Over the wind whipping past them, Kaita yelled, "That was awesome!"

"Glad you liked it!" Both Operator and Navi had their eyes peeled, ready to avoid any branches or trees that leapt out of the gloom. "Is it me, or is the fog getting thinner?"

"It looks like it to me." Kaita looked back to see if that was true in the other direction as well. "Aaaaah!"

"What?" Turboman asked frantically.

"Fast zombies!" It was easy to see the zombies running after them now that the fog was little more than a faint mist. Turboman tried popping off the tire Kaita wasn't clinging to and succeeded.

"Turbo Wheel!" The tire tore through the zombies, leaving behind scorch marks in the dirt and flurries of pixels. Not long after, the mist vanished completely. "I guess all we need to do now is find Ring-chan and the rest."

"Yeah!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

With the fog gone, the area seemed much smaller. It wasn't hard for Kaita and Turboman to find Mary, Kalama, and their Navis. Beat was still around, just as worried as the others. He spotted them first, alerting the others with a squawk. In moments, Kaita and his Navi were surrounded by their friends.

"Kaita!" Though she was last to come up, Mary looked the most worried of anyone. "I'm glad you're okay."

Ring noticed what was in Kaita's hand first. "And they've got a key, too! Go on, Kaita, show it off for us!" With a grin, Kaita held it high. Kalama narrowed her eyes.

"You need those for something, don't you?" she asked.

"Probably to get to the next round," Pele clarified.

Ring nodded. "Got it!"

Kalama's head tilted a bit as she thought. "Well, if we stick with you, you'll want the next key, and then you won't find any until it's too late for us..." Her head snapped up. "That decides it! We'll see you in the finals!"

"No, Kalama-chan, wait!" She and Pele were plowing ahead, the girl even sticking her fingers in her ears to emphasize her point. Mary sighed. "Well, I guess we'd better move on, too." The blonde looked at Kaita's key with a smile. "Congratulations!"


	10. I Knew This Was a Bad Idea

Enzan's boatmate had attacked almost as soon as he was awake, and Blues had wasted no time soundly defeating the other Navi. From there, they'd run across nothing but forest. Enzan was sure that the island wasn't so big that they could be wandering for much longer. They had to hit the other end soon, at least by the end of the day.

He nearly wrote off the rustle in the bushes to his left before he remembered that they were in a Dimensional Area. Nothing, wind included, could get in or out.

Next to him, Blues had come to the same conclusion he had. "Something's hiding from us." A sudden movement in the treetops prompted Blues to spring out of the way, and with seconds to spare-a razor-sharp kunai embedded itself into the tree behind the Navi, with enough force to leave a long crack in the trunk.

Enzan didn't waste any time. "Find cover," he ordered. Before he could follow his own advice, he noticed someone else fast asleep a little ways away. He hadn't expected to see Midorikawa Kero as a contestant-if she wasn't going someplace safer for a nap, she had to be one-but it didn't matter who she was. If someone was throwing knives around, she needed to be awake. Enzan strode over to her and shook her shoulder. "Midorikawa-san-!"

"No, no!" she interrupted. "Hhero-hhan," she yawned, waving her hand as if to brush away the other name.

He heard the next kunai slicing through the branches before he saw it. "Move!"

"Why should-" She looked up just in time for them to both see the kunai flashing through the air and screamed. Enzan pulled the panicking Kero to her feet, yanking her behind the tree with him. "Hey, thanks!" she said. There was another silvery flash, another scream from Kero; but this time, Blues brought his sword up, and the kunai rammed into the reddish blade before falling harmlessly to the ground.

Though Kero was looking wildly from one side to another, her Navi was keeping it together a little more. "Kero, kero~" he sang, sending out musical notes at one kunai while Blues deflected another.

"Okay," she muttered. "Reflector!"

"Wait," Enzan said. "Whoever's firing is too fast to be hit by his own attack. He'll see it coming."

She glared at him. "You want me to sit here and do nothing? Like I was saying, Reflector, slot-in!" The hard hat fell down, covering Blues as well as Toadman. The kunai that had been flying at them zinged back into the trees, only to be replaced by one that came from the other side.

"Darn it! Too fast!" Kero said. Enzan sighed.

"Blues!"

A white faceplate slid over Blues' nose and mouth as he prepared to pick up speed. "Roger," he said. His next jump took him into the trees. Toadman no longer had anything to worry about. There was plenty of loud rustling coming from overhead, and the frog-like Navi and his Operator certainly got showered with leaves, but any kunais usually flew from one clump of trees to another. There was a yell from above, and a green-helmeted Navi crashed down. His serious expression was backed up by the clawed hands attached to his overly long arms.

It took a moment for Enzan to remember where he'd seen a similar Navi before: Slashman in Beyondard, all those years ago. "Must be our world's version," he said to himself.

Kero looked over, curious but clueless. "What do you-" With a yell, Slashman charged. Blues was there to stop him, parrying Slashman's claws with his default sword. "Never mind. Toadman, get him!" This time, Kero knew what she was doing. Toadman's musical notes froze Slashman to the spot. Now that he was no longer a nebulous threat, Kero seemed to feel free to glare at the Navi. "Why're you attacking Enzan-kun? It's not like you'll get any further in the tournament by beating him!"

"It was an accident." Enzan was unsurprised to see his world's version of Phakchi step out from the forest. "I'll call off Slashman as long as you hand over your key!"

"Key?"

Next to Enzan, Kero gasped, "Oh! Oh, no!" Abruptly, she smirked. "But it doesn't work that way!" Her index finger held aloft, she recited, "When a Netbattle is initiated, a barrier drops down a few kilometers from the start of the Netbattle, trapping the fighters in a Point of Convocation so passers-by don't get sucked into the fight. We're stuck in this area until either you win or Enzan-kun and I do!"

Phakchi frowned. This was clearly not part of the plan. "Fine," she finally said. "That'll be no problem!" Slashman suddenly sprang forward, freed of his paralysis, but Blues's sword met his opponent's claws with an ear-rattling shriek. The two Navis were evenly matched, but Slashman had the advantage of two clawed arms versus Blues' one sword. The silver-haired Navi was forced to duck under Slashman's attacking arm and to his enemy's backside, where he wasted no time bringing his sword downward. But Slashman was hardly unprepared; he simply turned while bringing both arms slashing upward, leaving Blues to block with the flat of his sword.

"Long Sword, slot-in!" Enzan hadn't had to bother. Toadman was spitting another melody at Slashman, forcing the clawed Navi to abandon Blues so he could evade. After that assist from her Navi, Enzan glanced over at Kero. She was watching the Netbattle silently, eyes wide. Before he could tell her to snap out of it, a battle cry from Slashman returned his attention to the fight. He flinched out of instinct; not far from them, Toadman had flown into a tree, sending up splinters and dirt. Slashman was advancing on the frog-like Navi, one arm's massive claws ready to rip three new holes in Toadman's white-armored torso.

That jolted Kero back into action. "I don't think so! Silver Fist, slot-in!" Slashman was almost too close to dodge, barely twisting out of the way of Toadman's silver-plated hand. Blues wasted no time in taking advantage of his enemy's being off-balance, swiping sideways with his Long Sword. It was another near miss for Slashman, but Toadman turned it into a clean hit to the gut with his next punch. Blues darted out of the way as his opponent went staggering back. "Gotcha!"

Slashman shook his head quickly and straightened. Out of the corner of his eye, Enzan noticed Phakchi slotting something in. It was the only warning he had before her Navi vanished. There was a startlingly close thud as Slashman landed only meters away and sprang toward Blues, who whirled around and blocked the attack. Kero stared in amazement, and Enzan could see why; Slashman's height and those sharp claws were even more intimidating up close. Slashman wasn't going for huge, powerful swipes anymore, instead attacking with quick jabs. Blues ducked and weaved around every hit, but he had no opportunities to attack. And his evasiveness wouldn't last forever, either. Slashman was forcing him backward. He had to be hoping to corner Blues against a tree, where the red Navi could easily find himself attached to the tree through claws in his gut.

Enzan had no intention of letting that happen. He slotted in a Kawarimi. As Slashman first clipped the dummy and then ripped it open surprisingly fast, Blues silently reappeared above him, default sword pointed straight at the dark-haired Navi's head. The Kawarimi collapsed into its doll form. Slashman whirled around. Blues' sword dug into one arm, hardly the finishing blow it might've been. The ruse was up, so there was no need for surprise now. "Samurai Sword, slot-in!" Enzan didn't expect much to happen for either side from this move. He already knew that a sword-to-claw fight between Blues and Slashman would end in a stalemate. He needed a better plan. Perhaps one that involved Toadman's paralyzing attacks; and for that matter, why hadn't Enzan been seeing any for the past minute?

As expected, Blues and Slashman's weapons met. They stayed locked in that position, though Blues was slowly starting to gain ground. Before Slashman could be forced backward, he detached himself, ducking the two swords that sailed at his chest, and vanished in another Area Steal. It was during that pause that Enzan looked over to see Kero watching the battle in a similar daze to the one he'd left her in. That, he and Slashman realized at the same time, made her a perfectly good target in a Dimensional Area. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her out of the way just as their clawed attacker took a swipe at her head. "You can't run from me!" Slashman yelled, pivoting to face them. Enzan sprinted toward the nearest tree and cover, Kero a heavy-and now screaming-weight tugging at his arm. They ducked behind a thick tree trunk before Kero held out a hand, coming to a halt to catch her breath. Reluctantly, Enzan stopped as well.

"They're so _close,_" Kero said, fascinated. "I've always heard about it, but I never-" Slashman was bearing down on top of them, leaving her sentence to trail off.

"Get back!" Enzan yelled, pointing her toward a nearby tree. Kero's weight disappeared from his arm just as Slashman's claws swiped across. He dove to the side, hoping his plan had worked. The ground was so slippery with leaves here, there was no way he'd manage to get up quickly without falling on his face. As he got to his knees, he heard a yell of frustration. Slashman had buried a hand deep into the tree, the resulting crack in the trunk nearly stretching its entire length. Kero had taken a few steps backward, which was smart, as Blues had caught up with them. "Let's turn this around! Battlechip: Wide Blade!" The red-armored Navi darted between reporter and enemy and struck at Slashman, who blocked with one hand and wrenched the other free.

"Another sword? What do you plan on doing with that?" Slashman asked.

"Stalling," Blues said. Slashman whirled around and froze that way as Toadman's musical notes hit him.

The opportunity wasn't one Enzan would pass up. "Z-Saber!"

"Okay, here we go, Toadman! Battlechip: Mega Cannon! Slot-in!"

With their opponent fixed to the spot, there was no way he could avoid the two attacks that pounded into him. Slashman staggered back, weakened but not defeated. "Still want more, kero?" Toadman asked, raising the red cannon on his arm.

But it was too soon for him to be cocky. Before he knew it, Slashman was behind him. "Close quarters are no place for big, heavy guns," he chided, raising his claws to strike. Blues wasted no time in slipping between the green-armored Navi and his prey, raising his default sword to first block, then push Slashman's arm back.

"Wide Sword, slot-in!" Enzan sent his Navi the Battlechip as a way to protect himself from Slashman's second arm, which was coming up to attempt to dig into Blues's gut. The red-armored Navi blocked just in time, pushing away both arms with both swords before bringing them upward in a dual-edged slice that sent Slashman skidding backward.

For all her faults, Kero knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Fire!" she cheered.

Enzan drew out a Battlechip. "Neo Variable!"

With a yell of, "Sonic Boom!" Blues added a bright wave of energy to the damage Slashman was taking from Toadman's Mega Cannon. The Navi screamed as it hit him, his body freezing and morphing into the words 'LOG OUT'.

"Argh!" Phakchi gritted her teeth. "Well, I don't see any reason to stick around," she muttered.

"Good!" Kero shouted with an unabashed grin as Phakchi began her retreat through the forest.

"Shouldn't we go after her?" Enzan asked. "With the viruses around-"

"Mm-mm," Kero interrupted. "There're special Navis, the Midis and Technos, who do the backstage work. They've probably picked her up by now-there's a sensor that runs the Points of Convocation, so they know whenever a Netbattle starts here." She grabbed Enzan by the wrist and started walking as she continued, "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of tramping around this stupid forest. In return for your saving my butt, I think I'll show you something useful." Before Enzan could ask what that something was, the reporter began, "To get to the final rounds, like that lady was after, you need to find these cards that let you into your rooms at the Castillo de Jalero in the island's center-keys for short." They were heading off the paths and into the heavier brush, but that didn't stop Kero from continuing, "Scialto-san, who's in charge of this thing, hired someone to create challenges the contestants would have to go through to get these things. I don't know how much Black asked for, but one of the Midi-chan Navis said it was a lot. I think he's why we both got kicked out into the tournament-I saw his Navi running some simulation fights, and he's really good. Like, _amazingly_ good. I wouldn't be surprised if he won the whole thing! But he's also got a big secret. I don't know what it is yet, but I know where there's a story! And the Castillo Navis think so, too. He's shady, really shady."

Kero rubbed her hands together and beamed, occasionally darting glances in his direction. Rather than leave her hanging, Enzan prompted, "Really?"

"Yeah-nobody's sure how Scialto-san heard about him, one minute he wasn't here and the next, there he was. Toadman and I looked him up before we got here, and he didn't have a registered PET until a little over half a year ago. Isn't that usually the case with fugitives and criminals?" she asked eagerly. Enzan almost expected her to whip out a notebook and start scribbling down notes on the story she was obviously bringing to a boil in her head.

"Sometimes, yes. It depends." Enzan knew that Black was a part of Nova, and that meant that the two would probably end up fighting each other somewhere down the line. Meiru's description of him had been so overwhelmingly negative that Enzan had to think she was overreacting; a second opinion would be useful. "What was he like? Appearance, personality..."

"I didn't see him much; that Navi did most of the legwork for him. He seemed pretty quiet to me, when I did see him. Just did his job and that was that. He had this bright blue false eye, like-" She formed a circle with her finger and thumb and held it over her left eye. "The other one didn't stand out next to it, and like I said, he stayed away from everyone else. He was pretty short for a guy, though-barely taller than me, if he was taller!-and skinny. It's hard to tell how skinny, 'cause he wears really baggy clothes, but his face-it's creepy, like, _beyond_ skinny. He's sort of mousy, all in all, especially with all that brown hair. Someone needs to introduce him to a hairbrush! Anyway, does that sound like anyone you're looking for?"

Enzan shrugged. "Not me-I've missed all of Nova's crimes. The Net Saviors of Ameroupe needed my help with a case they're working on, so I've been there for a few months. I remember Meiru mentioning someone like him, though."

"Oh. Hey, if you're not working on it, why didn't you stop me?"

"You seemed pretty eager to tell me." From Kero's perspective, Black sounded totally different from how Meiru had described him. That was odd; Enzan had a feeling he'd have to wait until he was face-to-face with Black before he really knew what was going on there.

Kero sighed. "Anyway, we're almost here. Just after this clump of bushes here..." At first glance, the clearing looked just like any other, full of tall grass and the occasional flower. "Now, don't tell me you can't see anything! You're not supposed to. The contestants aren't supposed to know unless-"

"There's a black switch right over there."

Kero huffed, "I was getting to that!" As she pulled on it, she explained, "The guy who set this up has had this island in his family for decades-some of 'em used it for vacations, but it was supposed to be for botanical research and experimentation. It's got all kinds of cool stuff hanging around if you look closely enough, but the most important thing is this!" The switch suddenly wrenched sideways, and the ground swung up to reveal a stone hallway, lit by bare bulbs on either side. "The botany guys didn't want to trek back through the forest to the Castillo, so they made these tunnels. Scialto-san said they're called the Catacombs for the tournament, but he likes giving stuff prissy names anyway. I just call 'em tunnels." There was a ladder on the side, which the four made use of. "There're Navis filming down here, but they won't try to fight you. There's also a key that-a-way-" she pointed to the southeast and continued, "-but I wouldn't go after it if I were you. Bad, bad idea."

"Oh?" Now, Enzan was a lot more interested. "Why's that?"

"It's the hardest one. I don't know exactly what the challenge is, but the Castillo Navis say they won't go near that part of the tunnels."

The more he heard, the more it sounded like a safe bet that nobody else would have gotten to the key. "So some kind of virus is down there."

"Yeah, actually, they say-" Kero turned and saw that Enzan wasn't just curious about it. "Oh, no. If you go there, you're toast, I'm not kidding! I've seen what that thing does, it-that convinced you for sure, didn't it?"

"It doesn't sound like anyone else is about to beat it," Enzan said. More importantly, the sooner he was in the Castillo, the sooner he wasn't wasting time in the forest. Not only was it not getting him into the second round, it wasn't conductive to seriously thinking about the problems outside the Dimensional Area.

"I see, this is because you like a challenge or something. Well, okay. Farewell, Enzan-kun. There's an entrance to the Castillo down here if you make it. It was nice knowing you." Shaking her head, she set off in the opposite direction, Toadman hopping after her.

"A bit melodramatic, wasn't she?"

"Isn't she always?" Blues gestured to the tunnel that would take them closer to the southeast challenge. "After you, Enzan-sama."


	11. I've Never Done Anything So Dangerous

The next morning, Mary became more and more doubtful as the minutes ticked by.

Black hadn't been that informative when it came to finding the keys. There could be eight or eight hundred, as far as she knew. And there was no telling how many had already been taken by the other contestants. They could be wandering fruitlessly for days before Ring or Kaita gave up. And as for him, he already had his key. Was he putting his position in danger by staying with her? Would they just start without him? And more importantly, how long would their food supplies last? Mary had never realized how much she and Kaita ate until she watched the backpack grow lighter in an alarmingly short amount of time. There didn't seem to be any sort of tournament officials-would someone save them, or would they just be left in the forest to wither away?

"Mary-chan, what's wrong?" Ring asked. Next to her, Kaita also looked concerned. Beat seemed oblivious, flying ahead of them.

"It's... It's nothing," she reassured them.

"Oh," Kaita said, shrugging. "Hey, what do you think it's going to look like?"

Mary did her best to put her worries behind her. Kaita didn't seem to have noticed-there was no reason to make him gloomy, too. "What?"

"The place where the finals are. I bet it'll be really cool!"

Before Mary could reply, she heard Beat squawk loudly. Moments later, her Navi called, "Mary-chan, look!" Ahead of them was a silvery wall, with an ornate gate in its center. As they came closer, they saw that the grass and weeds hadn't grown around it. Instead, sunlight-starved plants poked out of the wall with nary a ripple, curved to drink in as much light as they could. Even if an observer failed to notice that detail, the wall's smoothness was unreal, and the gate had an angular look to its curves. The grass inside was perfectly healthy; whatever the wall fenced in was outdoors. Ring grinned. "If that doesn't scream 'key', I don't know what does! Come on!"

Mary nodded. Find the key, and they'd be out of the forest and out of danger. Still, knowing how physical these challenges seemed to get, she didn't like the idea of going in alone. "Kaita-kun, Turboman, could you stick with me?"

"Of course! You can leave the scary stuff to us!" Kaita said confidently. As if in response to him, the gate suddenly swung open.

"We'll see if we can hold you to that!" Ring said. "Let's go, Mary-chan!" On the inside, the walls were smooth and white, forming a narrow hallway that stretched fairly far. As they reached the end, Mary felt a little more relaxed-if it stayed like this, it would be no trouble for her.

"It must be a maze!" Kaita realized as they turned the corner to find another hallway.

"Can't be a big one, though, considering how small it looked from the outside," Ring pointed out. "Left hand on the wall, right?" She strode a little ways ahead of the rest of the group, cheerfully brushing a pink mitten against the wall. It wasn't long until she called out, "Oh, see, what'd I tell you? This looks like the middle already!"

When Mary reached the end of the hall, she saw a good-sized clearing with a fountain in the middle. The water was just as white as the rest of the fountain, and two bands on the ground attached it to the maze walls.

"How strange." She took a step closer, curious. It was opaque water as well, spurting out of the top and falling down two levels before reaching the bottom. "Maybe it's milk or something," she said, running a finger under it experimentally. "Though why would they..."

She had pulled her finger out. The liquid had gone with her. Mary took a few steps backward, but the gooey string that attached her to the fountain only seemed to get thicker. Before she could scream, a swarm of Ring Boomerangs sliced through it, leaving whatever was on her hand to vanish in a flurry of pixels. "Get back!" Turboman warned. Ring whisked her Operator away as the fountain lost its shape behind them, turning into a massive wall of white liquid. It hung straight up for a moment, then surged forward. Kaita pulled Mary toward him and shouted, "Barrier, slot-in!" Turboman leapt in front of the two children, shielding them while Ring sent her boomerangs out; they sliced through the bottom of the wave, turning the purposeful roll of the white liquid into a unformed splatter. Now disconnected from the maze, the white gunk stuck to the Barrier in solid globs, pixellating and vanishing when Turboman let it fade out.

Mary tried to calm down, but her head was still almost blank with panic. "What was that thing?"

"Must've been some kind of virus," Turboman said.

"I'm glad this is a small maze," Ring said, still surprised herself. "Really glad. Let's hurry and get it over with, shall we?"

"Good idea." The maze also seemed fairly straightforward; there didn't seem to be any splits in the road, just many shortening corridors. Mary found herself calming down again as time went by; not only were there not a lot of traps so far, but perhaps things like the fountain would be easier to evade now that she knew what to look for. She turned the corner to find that the path branched out in two directions.

"All right! Our first fork!" Ring cheered.

"Which way should we go?" Turboman asked.

"Don't let it fool you!" Ring said. "We should keep going with the left-hand rule, of course. Even if we wind up in a dead end, we'll just circle back around to here!"

"Okay, left it is," Mary said. The group started down the left side, Ring humming to herself as she walked. As they turned the corner, they found a dead end.

"Oh, well," Ring said, walking forward. "Around we go-oh!" A demonic, horned face, almost like a mask, popped out of the wall. Not a second later, its giant hands popped out from either side-right where Ring was, clamping over her arm and most of her rings. "H-Hey! Let me go!" It was already starting to retract. Turboman ran up to it, a tire in hand, and hit it on its wrist. Ring stumbled backward as the hand released her. The other hand made a grab for Mary and Kaita, who backed away.

"Sword, slot-in!" Turboman slashed down on the hand closest to the Operators, reducing it to pixels.

"Mega Cannon, slot-in!" Ducking under the other hand's second swipe, Ring fired on the face. It melted back into the wall, only to spring up again.

"Well, at least it isn't attacking," Ring said as she made a hasty exit. Even when she did, the hand moved out of the end it had formed in, and it was opening up to try grabbing her again when she called, "Ring Boomerang!" Tattered, the hand fell away. "Maybe putting one hand on the wall isn't so smart," Ring said, backing around the corner.

The hands didn't seem to respawn after being chopped down. Mary wiped the sweat off her brow, sighing in relief as she and Kaita cautiously turned around. The sun was directly above them, and there weren't any trees to shield them. Once they'd crossed over the fork and into the next unknown part, Mary said, "I wonder if this is the middle section..."

"'Cause it might get harder?" Kaita asked, walking alongside her. "Well, maybe."

"But it's nothing we can't handle!" Ring said.

"After you nearly got eaten by the maze demon back there?" Turboman asked.

"That was a fluke," Ring said calmly, crossing her arms.

"Hey, guys, look!" They were approaching another fork. Standing between them and the fork was a white figure with one spindly arm on the maze wall. Its other arm didn't seem to have a hand, or any joints to speak of; when it bent to beckon them closer, the wide curve reminded Mary more of a rubber doll than a human arm. As they came closer, it stepped back, standing on the left side of the fork in the path. "Maybe we shouldn't follow it," Kaita said, turning toward the right side of the path.

"That's right!" Ring said, bounding over to walk alongside Kaita. "We're wise to your tricks, mister maze!" No sooner had she said that than a massive mouth appeared in front of them, opening wide to showcase a bewildering amount of teeth. Kaita and Ring screamed and ran to hide behind Turboman and Mary.

"But m-maybe we should follow it..." Kaita stammered. The figure nodded, then started skipping down the left-hand corridor, stopping at the end to ensure they followed. Then, it sprung around the corner to another corridor. It led them through at least four forks and many more corridors before it finally stopped in front of one of the wider clearings.

"A trap," Mary realized. This clearing was larger than the others. Music played softly as they stepped inside and their guard bounded away; the floor was made of the white gel, making the figures here able to hold onto each other instead of the wall. They were dancing, couples swishing around the room. "It's like a ballroom!" Mock lamps grew out of the walls to hang above their heads, while a white table with sphere-filled bowls was at one side. But what Mary found oddest were the details. A featureless coat of arms with long-beaked birds on either side decorated the wall above the food tray, and a grandfather clock spanned from top to bottom of the opposite wall. According to its arms, it was eleven o'clock; at night, if the moon over the swinging pendulum was any indication. Even the wall it rested against was indented in an irregular pattern, like it was a stone building.

Considering what had come before, it was an amazing amount of detail. Before Mary could speculate, she heard a loud shout of, "Yike!" Ring's mittens were taken by the arms of a white figure, who pulled her away into the crowd.

"Whoa, wait a second-" Kaita was pulled in the opposite direction by another dancer.

"Kaita-kun?" Turboman yanked his hands away before the same could happen to him. The last Mary saw of him before she felt something lukewarm and moist gently tug at her hands was a second program pulling him back by his waist. She looked up into a featureless face. It tilted to the side in response. The figure pulled her away from the entrance, toward the table, the grip on her hands soft, but solid. It shrank to match her height until she had to bend her knees with it: _one_-two-three-_one_-two-three-_one_-two-three...

After the strangeness of the earlier maze, Mary couldn't help being wary of the figure. It touched the edge of its arm-ending-she couldn't call it a hand, the way its wrists just ended-to her nose, as if chiding her for being so uptight. "Do you know where we are?" she asked. It shook its head. "What is this supposed to be?" It spun her around. Once they'd rejoined, she said, "I know it's a dance, but this feels like a-" It touched its arm-ending to her lips before swinging them around to travel to the opposite end of the room. As they did, Mary saw flashes of yellow and red become visible before disappearing behind other white figures. Her own figure seemed to be content once it stopped in the corner, gently swaying back and forth.

Much harder, thicker arms hooked under her shoulders, and suddenly she was being swiftly dragged backwards. She looked up to see towering, bulky figures, like giants. The dancer figure seemed to be just watching with its eyeless face, its arms at its sides as other figures swarmed in, shutting out Mary's view. The music stopped as she landed in the middle, next to Ring and her friends; it was replaced with the sound of canned laughter, loud and obnoxious. The figures had crowded in close while still leaving a berth between Mary's group and them, and they were holding spheres. They all opened fire at the same time; while the Navis managed to drag their Operators away from most of it, one still splattered against Mary's face. It had the consistency of fruit, which surprised her even as the remains of the fruit-sphere vanished off her cheeks into the air.

"How do we get out of here?" Kaita wondered. Suddenly, the crowd's flattened stumps lengthened into knives. Kaita and Mary backed into each other evading the figures' stabs, which left indents in the ground.

"Try slotting in Burning Body to clear them out!" Turboman suggested, flipping diagonally onto all fours after five or six knives went for his head.

"Gotcha! Burning Body, slot-in!" The small, red Kiorushin appeared just ahead of Turboman, right in front of a figure-which was reduced to paste as the virus shot forward. It destroyed many more of the strange party guests as it made another trip back, opening the way to the other end-which was closed off. Scooping their Operators up under their arms, Turboman and Ring leapt the thinned crowd of onlookers and dashed for the way they'd come. They didn't stop until they were almost back at the last fork they'd passed. "That was weird," Kaita said as Turboman set him down.

"I know," Mary said. "But now we don't know which way's the right one..."

"I'd wager it's the one we got blocked from," Ring said. "I know I can recall the path we took, it's just a matter of if Turboman can keep up."

"Of course I can! I'd be more worried about you being unable to reverse it!" With that, they started on the way back to the initial fork, the Navis leading the way. They'd only passed one intersection before Kaita's stomach growled, reminding Mary of how hungry she was. The two Navis turned around. "You guys want to stop and eat?" Turboman asked. "We're pretty far from any trap rooms, and you guys won't be as speedy on empty stomachs."

"Definitely!" Kaita said, grabbing a seat. "Let's see..." He opened up the backpack and found Beat hiding inside. "It's safe for now, honest!" he said. Reluctantly, the bird-like program jumped out, leaving Kaita free to pull out the last of the pretzels while Mary helped herself to the dried fruit.

"How much longer d'you think this maze is going to take?" Ring wondered while the two Operators ate. "Feels like we've been in here for hours."

Kaita looked down at his PET between bites. "We have been," he reported. "It's three twenty-three now."

The four of them looked up to find the sun beginning to drop in the sky. "Man. I wonder if I can get a sense of how far we've gotten..." Turboman jumped up, but the walls shot up taller around him. "Guess not," he said on landing.

Beat's glasses flashed red, but the walls around them didn't change. "Pi pi," he said, shaking his head.

"We really should try to finish this today, though," Mary said. "I don't want to know what it's like at night..."

"Well, at least there won't be any random viruses prowling around!" Ring said. "And besides, we keep watch out there, right? We'll do the same in here."

Noticing that Kaita had finished eating and feeling satiated herself, Mary returned the fruit to the backpack. "Even so, let's see if we can get as much done as we can," she said.

"Right!" With that, the two Operators got back to their feet, Beat took cover again, and the group started walking. A few minutes later, they were back where they'd started. Remembering the mouths that had blocked their way earlier, Mary and Kaita found sword chips for their Navis. "Wide Sword, slot-in!"

"Elec Sword, slot-in!" With Turboman's Wide Sword and Ring's Elec Sword at the ready, the two Navis led the way toward the blocked-off path. "Nothing seems to be coming out," Ring said, though she didn't drop her sword. They managed to get halfway down the next corridor before Ring said, "Mary-chan, I think you might as well cancel this. I don't think anything's coming."

"That's a relief," Mary said, finding the button on the PET's underside that would slide the Elec Sword Battlechip back out. Next to her, Kaita canceled his Wide Sword. "Saves some chips for later, doesn't it?"

The relief didn't last long. Only two corridors later, there was another square clearing ahead. Oddly, there seemed to be nothing unusual in it. "Careful," Turboman said. Kaita and Mary nodded their acknowledgement.

"When aren't we careful?" Ring asked lightly as they entered the square area.

Though each step was met with nothing but the sound of grass crunching underfoot, Mary couldn't help feeling like she was waiting for the other shoe to fall. She kept her eyes on the white walls around her, ready to alert the others if she saw any movement. As she turned to take in the other side, a leaf drifted near her face, catching in her hair.

Her eyes widened. The leaf was white.

Kaita had noticed the same thing. "Guys!" The leaves were falling a lot faster now, many coming toward them. Kaita wondered, "But what can they do? It seems like they've never been able to do anything unless they're connected to the rest of the maze-"

"And they might very well get connected, at this rate," Mary noticed with alarm. The floor was gaining a coating of white, whole swatches of leaves melting down into smooth gel as piles touched the wall. Mary looked down at the leaves sticking to her hair and clothes and found that many of them were touching each other. If the connection reached her body, this attempt at finding a key would come to a swift end. Since the leaves were small and the quarters too close to be swinging a full-sized sword around, Mary opted for, "Engetsu Kunai, slot-in!" Kaita did the same next to her.

"It's okay," Ring said, slicing down any dangerously close leaves next to her. Though they weren't part of the larger maze yet, they pixellated just the same when met with a sharp blade. "We're almost out of this one!" But they were still far enough from the exit for Mary to be alarmed when the white puddles erupted into long, forked lines-branches, she realized. Knowing they needed more firepower now, she sent in a Mega Cannon to shoot down one tree while Ring sliced down the other with her Ring Boomerangs. When they turned to assist Kaita and Turboman, Mary saw at least eight more branches-and coming from Kaita's pocket, a red glow.

"Kaita-kun, your key!" Kaita looked down at it in surprise before the branches made a concentrated grab for him, which he blocked with a Barrier.

A shout of, "_Cheater!_" echoed around them as they rushed to the end of the square area.

Mary almost didn't recognize the voice until Kaita did. Looking around, he wondered, "Black?"

"_Listen, you cheat._" Mary found it hard to-white tendrils were shooting out of the maze, forcing Kaita and Turboman on the run and Ring to scoop her Operator up before she could follow. "_I don't know who you think you are, just walking in here thinking you can get two keys. And if you're hearing this message, you've gotten dangerously close to completing another challenge, which I guess is impressive. But you can't have two, no matter how good you are._" The maze closed itself off, forcing Mary to put up a Dream Aura to keep out the tendrils.

"Mary-chan, he just wants me out," Kaita said. "You go ahead, okay?"

"But-"

"_There have to be sixteen contestants, and they have to prove themselves instead of buying their key off somebody or whatever. These aren't like event tickets. And if you're trying to jip someone out of their key, then you should really be ashamed! If you ask me, it should be means of disqualification!_" Though the voice had taken on a lighter tone, its words made Mary gasp and look worriedly at Kaita. "_But it's not. Your second key challenge is just coming to a premature end._"

"See? Don't worry about it," Kaita said as the Dream Aura dropped away. The tendrils ignored Mary and the Navis completely, snagging Kaita by the arms and legs.

"_Enjoy your trip, you rotten scoundrel!_" Black's voice called, sounding downright cheerful.

"Just find that key!" Kaita said.

"_Because you-are-a-cheat!_" With that, Kaita was yanked up and away so quickly, all he could do was yelp. "_If you're still here, you should probably follow your Operator,_" Black's voice suggested next.

"I guess that's for me," Turboman said. "Well, good luck, guys!" As soon as Turboman had cleared the wall, the maze walls expanded outward again, freeing up the path.

Mary didn't feel nearly as confident now that she was down two allies. "Why the long face?" Ring asked, pulling white leaves out of her Operator's hair and flicking them away to disappear. "You heard what he said, didn't you? We're close. Dangerously so! I'll bet that key is right around the corner."

"But they've been doing just as much of the work as we have," Mary said. "And you know I can't get away from these attacks like you can..."

"Don't worry about that part-just leave it to me," Ring said confidently. "I bet that final round's going to be something, don't you? On an island like this... There's no telling what he's got waiting. There might be a hula party!"

"A... a hula party?" The image of Navis like Turboman and Punk in hula skirts and coconut bras was too funny for Mary to stay worried.

"Mm-hm! You'll be sorry you gave up when you were so close!"

"Yeah!" Mary beamed at her Navi. "Thanks, Ring-chan."

"Hey, no problem!" As they turned another corner, the Navi bit her lip before warning, "Looks like there's something up ahead. Be careful, Mary-chan!"

"Right." Mary drew in a sharp breath; they were stepping onto a white tile, with four white pillars at each corner. They'd nearly been at the maze's mercy the last time there had been a floor made of the maze's material, and that was when they were four in number. The floor seemed to cling to the girl's shoes, but there was nothing out of the ordinary when she looked down. "I don't like this..."

"Don't worry. We must be almost there-"

Mary screamed, suddenly borne aloft by the maze virus. She felt herself lose her balance, but the virus's grip on her legs prevented her from doing much other than folding over at the waist. Ring looked like a small doll beneath her. She hoped her Navi didn't use the same method she had on the last virus-she had a sickening feeling that a fall from this height would be fatal. She put her hands on her thighs and pushed herself up. The forest spread out before her in a constantly changing mass of color. Beyond that was the end of the Dimensional Area, almost like seeing the end of a rainbow landing in the ocean. It looked less like part of the sky and more like a giant dome from this height. She heard her tittering, high-pitched laugh before she knew she was making it. It turned into a scream as the pillar holding her up wobbled. She looked down to see that Ring had sliced off one of the smaller pillars down below. Her heart was pounding. She coughed, then muttered, "Stay calm, Mary. No hospitals out here... Gotta stay calm..." The white mass clinging to her legs had stopped wobbling, which helped a lot. From down below, she heard Ring shout. She couldn't make out what her Navi was saying, though.

Now, Ring was rocketing toward her. "Hang on, Mary-chan!" She threw her largest rings downward. The pixels tickled Mary's skin as they fled up and dissolved around her. For a second that seemed like an hour, she felt her stomach being pulled into her throat as she flew downwards and the ground came closer and closer and _this was it she was dead_ and before she knew it, a pair of arms had tightened around her. She was sitting in Ring's grip as they landed and sped to safety. "Are you all right?" the Navi asked.

"Yep." Mary beamed at Ring, who grinned back. "That was really scary!" she laughed.

"Well, I couldn't think of anything else to do!" Mary wriggled a bit in her Navi's arms, but Ring protested, "Oh, no, missy! I can feel your pulse, it's much too high. You stay there until you've calmed down some, all right? If you were too heavy, I'd let you know, believe me!" The girl nodded.

"Thanks." Right, right, left, right... The hallways here seemed to go on forever, blurring together in Mary's memory as Ring went down another and another. She felt a pang of hunger as they went down another hallway and wondered how long it had been since they'd left Kaita and Turboman behind. This time, Ring let Mary start walking when the girl felt ready.

"Not much of a maze, is it?" the taller of the two noticed as they turned another corner. "It's almost all straight lines."

"Leading us from one trap to another," Mary murmured. "Speaking of which..." Up ahead she could see a white angel statue. It was covering its face with its hands, but Mary was sure it would snatch anything that came near it in a heartbeat. Ring took a tentative step forward, but it remained still.

"Maybe if we're very quiet..." They inched along the wall. Mary swore she could see the statue wriggle. Was it just toying with them? Was it even smart enough to do that? Whatever the case was, it hadn't lurched toward them yet. She ran her hand against the wall-halfway there-and felt it sink in. She jerked her hand back, then hesitantly set it further down. The wall stayed firm. She allowed herself a sigh of relief and looked over at her Navi. Ring was looking back at her, concerned. Mary gave her Navi a thumbs up, and they continued on. The angel still hadn't moved when they slipped into the next hallway. "Yes!" Ring cheered.

"I hope we're almost out of here," Mary said after they rounded the next corner.

Ring realized, "That's right! You need to eat again soon, don't you? They've got to have something where the key-ack!" Mary stumbled backward, nearly falling over in her alarm. The walls on either side of Ring had grabbed her arms and legs, forming a pillar similar to the one that had trapped Mary. The girl looked up at her struggling Navi in shock, too panicked to think. Ring shouted, "A fall from this height's nothing to a Navi. Mary-chan, shoot it down!"

Mary couldn't think of anything better to do. She nervously readied the Battlechip. "If you say so. Cannon, slot in!" The pillar didn't last long under her barrage, vanishing from the middle up in a flurry of pixels.

"Ring Boomerang!" The white stuff waiting beneath Ring was cleared away by the swarm of rings, leaving the Navi free to make a perfect landing. She bounded over to her Operator. "That was a great view, wasn't it, Mary-chan! I could see the whole island from up there!"

The girl shuddered. "Y-Yeah..." She and Ring both had one eye on the walls as they continued on. "Hey, look!" Just ahead of them was a glimmering pavilion with something draped over it that reminded Mary of a mosquito net. Ring bounded ahead and easily passed through it, her Operator only a few steps behind. Inside were a pair of hammocks, a large ceiling fan, and a table and two chairs in the middle. Ring was quick to pluck the white-and-green key from where it sat on the table. When Mary opened the refrigerator sitting in front of the back wall, she found it full of food. "Well, I'm glad that's over," she remarked, taking out a box of strawberries. "Final rounds, here we come!"

"Yeah! All we have to do is hurry and get back," Ring said.

After thinking of the long distance they'd had to travel to get to this pavilion, Mary said, "I think I'd rather stay here for the night, Ring-chan."

"Hmm..." Ring was studying a plaque on the wall. "'Anti-Virus Net. All Traps Disabled.' Yeah, I guess this is pretty safe."

Mary peered out of the net at the sun, low in the sky. "I just hope Kaita and Turboman are okay out there..."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

After being ejected from the maze, Kaita and Turboman had circled the silvery wall that ringed it, trying to find an exit. The other end was on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and a lot further away than they'd thought; when they circled back around to the other side, they didn't find any exit there. Mary and Ring had to be reappearing from the front. Though the two had been optimistic at first, that had been in the afternoon. Now, Kaita and Turboman watched the rainbows cast by the Dimensional Area grow darker and darker as the sun began to set. "Gosh, I hope they're okay," Kaita said softly after another minute passed and Mary and Ring failed to reappear. "She'll be fine, right?" he asked his Navi.

Turboman nodded, though he didn't seem convinced. "Maybe the exit's just hidden," he ventured. "I could go take a look around, if you want."

"Yeah! Good idea!" Turboman swiftly vanished into the trees, Beat perched on his head. After a few more minutes of no Mary, Kaita decided to find a place to sleep that was in sight of the closed doorway. After finding a shady spot, he slipped off the backpack, which fell to the ground with a lighter thud than usual. He took the flashlight out and set it on its side before taking a seat next to the large bag and rummaging through it for something to eat. He knew it was unlikely that the exit was hidden, and remembering how long it had taken before he'd been kicked out, he had to start resolving himself to the fact that Mary and Ring were going to be spending the night inside. He just hoped they'd be safe-though they'd be hungry, if he was the one looking through the backpack. That decided it; he had to find them again somehow, whether the maze wanted him in it or not. "Turboman?" he called, slinging the backpack over his shoulders and walking toward the gate. "Turboman, we need to go back inside-"

A hand touched his shoulder, and Kaita yelped.


	12. I Never Considered Getting to Know You

"Kiddo! What's happening?"

Kaita sprang to his feet. "Black!"

His face seemed even more pale and gaunt in the dark, and his grin even creepier. "The one and only."

Remembering the last time they'd met, Kaita exclaimed, "Wait a minute, I thought you had your key! What are you doing wandering around out here?"

"Cutting down on the competition, naturally! You think I want a bunch of pansies in the finals? They're starting to get harder to find, though. I'm bored, and you're usually good for some entertainment." Kaita scowled. Black nodded to himself. "Where's the girlfriend?"

"First off, she's not my girlfriend-" Black smirked. "Well, she's not!"

"Sure, sure. Back to my question. Where is she?"

"In there. She's getting her key. It's been a while, though. I'm kind of worried."

Punk said, "It's supposed to be long. 'At least one day within before the contestant reaches the key', that's what he said."

"Yep," seconded Black. "She's either gotten it by now, meaning the maze has gone dormant and she's completely safe sleeping in the middle..." He smirked. "Or, more likely, she hasn't, and she's in trouble. If that's the case, it's not going to spit her back out until morning."

"Oh." Kaita looked back up at him. "And you guys want to stay here the entire time?"

"Well, we hadn't thought about that before..." Black began.

"Now that you mention it, sure we will!" finished Punk. "Where's Carboy? I wouldn't want him to be surprised when he comes back..." He looked around, mean-spirited mischief gleaming in his eyes, before wandering a little further off. Turboman would doubtlessly be getting the shock of his life in a matter of minutes, and his Operator wasn't faring any better with Black's gaunt face leering at him.

In his misery, Kaita asked the question almost without realizing he was saying it. "Why are you such jerks, anyway?"

He hadn't expected any answers, but Black surprised him with one. "Huh. Never thought about it... Guess it's just part of me or something. Y'know... fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, I gotta be a jerk." He shrugged before abruptly flopping to the ground, leaning against one of the trees and looking up at Kaita through his half-closed eye. "Don't bother thinking about it. I'm like a force of nature, kiddo; there's no saving a guy like me. That goes double for Punk."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

Kaita glared at him. "Nobody could be that bad."

A smile and a near-silent puff of breath served as a laugh for Black before he said, "Most people aren't. That's just what we want you to think."

"But, but..." He stopped; his protest had been automatic and not thought out at all. Black sat a little straighter, obviously waiting for Kaita to follow it up. "Oh... I don't know!" The boy thought aloud, "You couldn't be just pretending. You... You enjoy this. You came here just to laugh in my face! I bet you don't regret what you did to Turboman, or whatever Nova's planning, or your virus."

"Then we really are that bad," Black said tonelessly.

"But what if you have some reason to do it? Like, someone'll die if you don't do it, or... I don't know..."

Black smirked. "Ransom notes? Please. You've been watching too much TV." Kaita tried to suggest something else, but the older Netbattler said distantly, "Sometimes it's complicated, sometimes it's simple. Paying the rent, getting revenge, making a statement, just for grins... Sometimes it's the last resort, other times, well, _that_ can be a can of worms all to itself..." He shrugged.

Kaita was silent for a little while, thinking it over. "Wow," he finally said. "That is complicated." His curiosity piqued, he asked, "What about you?"

"You ask too many questions. That's a useful skill."

"Huh?"

Black got to his feet. "Nobody ever got anywhere without the proper knowledge. So many fights would never have happened without the proper misinformation. Just try not to stray too far from the beaten path, kiddo, or your tiny mind- might- snap-" All this time, he'd been inching across the gap between them; to punctuate the end of his sentence, he flicked his finger against Kaita's forehead. "But I guess it's too late for you. We're having this conversation, after all. You're very good. Or I'm very bad."

"Maybe it's a mix?" Kaita asked nervously.

"Probably." Black half-fell to the ground again, this time with his hand pulling Kaita's arm down with him. The boy had little choice but to go along. Almost childishly, Black asked, "Say, how serious are you about Netbattling? You seemed lost back there."

"Back where? With those two weather Navis?"

"No, the World Three Area."

"Oh. Well, I... I'm not as good as I thought I was." Kaita looked down at the dirt and leaves on the ground. "That really bothers me... I guess I'm not really serious about it after all. I never really practiced or anything, we just won somehow..." He didn't like thinking about that loss and what it meant, and found himself focusing on the ground instead. There were no ants crawling around; he found that odd. There didn't seem to be that much life in this forest.

"Interesting. Well, what are you into, then?"

"My dad owns an auto repair shop, and, well, Turboman's almost like a car, so I've always been around cars. I want to design them when I get older. See, in a car, all this little stuff adds up in the end, like the engine design, how stuff is wired, the quality of-" Kaita snapped out of his ramble and narrowed his eyes at Black. "Hey, why're you asking me this stuff?"

"Turnabout is fair play." Reluctantly, Kaita nodded in agreement. Black asked, "So you and your Navi have been together for a while?"

"Since I was six. Why?"

"That makes sense. Familiarity with your Navi is a pretty big part of Netbattling. But it's not the only one."

"Yeah," Kaita said, drawing circles in the dirt. "I sure found that out."

"Well, you're all wrapped up in things now. You'd better step it up."

"I'll try."

"No, no..." Exasperated, Black said, "Netbattling isn't about trying. It's about doing. You sink or you swim." Kaita looked up in surprise-it was like the older Netbattler could see right through to the uncertainty he'd been trying to hide since that first defeat. With more feeling than Kaita had ever thought he'd hear from the hacker, Black told him, "For example, you _will_ decide whether or not you get any better. And we _will_ fight again. And when we do, will I see improvement?"

There was only one thing Kaita could say, the way Black put it. "Yes."

Black slapped Kaita on the back, startling the boy. "That's the answer I like to hear!" A scream reverberated from the forest to their right. Black looked over at Kaita and smiled. "I won't tell 'em if you don't." Kaita nodded dumbly. The humanness suddenly vanished from Black's face, brown eye frosting over once again and smile turning into a cold smirk. He leaned against the tree, pulling down his sleeves with small, quick movements. By the time Turboman was dragged back into camp, branches, other bits of forest, and Punk's mace-cum-towing-line tangled in his spoiler, it was like their conversation had never happened for Black. Kaita was doing his best to keep his head from returning to that moment, too, but he kept darting looks at the man as Punk strode into the clearing.

"Just as wimpy as ever!" Punk whipped his cable off Turboman's spoiler, leaving the other Navi to land with a loud _whump._ "You should put some bumper stickers on 'im, see if they'll stay when I send him back to his PET like _this_-" He slammed his mace into a tree right behind Turboman. It cracked in two horizontally where the spiked cylinder hit, with cracks splintering up lengthwise and sending shards of wood spinning into the darkness. Turboman barely managed to get out of the way before the tree crashed down.

"Now, now," Black chided, seemingly as unimpressed by the show of strength as Kaita was shocked. "He's got a key, you know. It would be a terrible waste to not shame him in front of a crowd, tempting as it is to just do it now." His brown eye darted over to the younger Operator. "Unless, of course, they're feeling confident..."

Kaita looked to Turboman and found the Navi looking right back. Neither one was feeling lucky. Punk said, "Of course not. Any enemy of mine learns very well and very quickly what I can do." He said it with no pride or sneer in his voice; it was just a fact to him. Kaita wondered how many Navis Punk had deleted-how long he'd been around and fighting-to have that kind of confidence.

Black nodded. "A Navi who couldn't show his enemies that would be a waste of my time." He looked over at Turboman and smirked.

"You just wait," the car-like Navi growled. "Kaita-kun and I'll run you down so fast, you won't even make it-"

"Past the starting line? Out of a Navi like you? How original!" Black laughed mockingly. He stretched his arms above his head as he lazily continued, "I think that when it comes to Netbattles, with my experience and Punk's, we have... pole position."

"You-" Kaita yawned. "You won't even notice when we win. You'll be too busy gloating."

"Please. Letting anything get in the way of my work is one thing I never do." He leaned his head back against the tree. "Good night, Kaita."

Kaita blinked. "You actually remember my name?"

"Duh," Black mumbled before shifting a little. Kaita almost wanted to say something more-to him, the silence was awkward-but tiredness had taken any arguments away. In the quietness and the dark, it didn't take long for him to drift to sleep.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

The next morning, Kaita woke up to discover that Punk was still there. Black didn't seem to be in the clearing anymore, but Kaita doubted he'd gone far. Turboman was on full alert nearby, but that wasn't where it stopped; he was tensed up, as if ready to spring. Kaita looked confusedly at him for a moment, but the red Navi didn't seem to notice.

The next thing Kaita noticed was that he hadn't gotten around to eating dinner last night, and he was starving. The backpack was gone from its spot against the tree. Punk was dangling it from his extendable arm, swinging it in lazy swoops. His eyes were on Turboman, though; every time the other Navi looked like he was about to snatch the backpack, Punk would change his pattern or simply jerk his prize away. "G'morning, kiddo," he greeted, tossing the bag over to Kaita with a deceptively small push. The force behind the throw bowled its target over.

"_Thank_ you," Turboman snapped.

"You're very welcome." Punk watched Kaita dig through the backpack. Turboman simply watched to see what Punk would do next. "Must be inconvenient, eatin'," he said. "All anyone has to do is take the food away an' you're at their mercy. I wonder how many Netbattlers've caught on to that?"

"We could steal their food back or something," Kaita argued.

"Yeah, but they could be holdin' their stuff somewhere else. 'Know thine enemy' and all-you could wind up with a bag fulla rocks."

"But there's no other place to put it. My other backpack has clothes and stuff in it, and I bet the same goes for everyone else. We didn't know about having to be out here, remember?"

"And when you find a pile of clothes lyin' around on day three, I'm sure you'll remember that. Or maybe you'll just try to eat 'em." Kaita made a face and turned back to finding breakfast.

"Well, I like eating more than just... just getting energy out of a can or something," he defended. What little was left of the bread was starting to go stale, and he didn't want to know what the heat had done to some of the boxes of food. "I bet you'd like it too if you could eat."

"Nothing wrong with cans," Punk said. "Cans are much more compact than _that_." Almost everything in the backpack had wound up on the ground. Not for the first time, Kaita wondered why there was canned soup but no convenient way to heat it. A Turbo Wheel would do the trick, but then he needed firewood and an area where there weren't overhanging tree branches to be set on fire...

"I don't think trying to start a fire's a good idea around here, Kaita-kun," Turboman said. That left some dried fruit, which Kaita hated, and semi-stale bread, which was equally unappealing. Crackers and cookies did not a satisfying breakfast make. He and Mary were trying to be careful about the water, anyway. He doubted she'd appreciate it if he used it all to swallow the dry crackers down.

"Cans are sounding better all the time," Punk said.

For Kaita, that decided it; he grabbed a plastic fork and the can opener from the bottom of the backpack and got to work opening a can of pineapples. "This is weird," he complained. "It doesn't open..."

"Maybe it's on the wrong way," Turboman suggested. Punk just watched, clearly not about to give any help. "Let me try." The Navi got it open, and his Operator found that the pineapples looked fine.

"Thanks!" It took a little over half the can before Kaita felt like slowing down. When he looked up, Black had returned. The hacker was sitting with his back against the tree next to his Navi's. To Kaita's surprise, Beat was sitting on his forearm. "Hey," he said, swallowing his bite of food. "What're you doing with him?"

"Huh? He's mine. I created him." Kaita looked from cute bird to forbidding hacker in confusion. Black rolled his eye and explained, "He's a present for a friend. I'm sure if I was keeping him for myself, he would have more spikes, like you seem to expect."

Kaita shrugged and continued plowing through the pineapple chunks. He chewed for a moment, then looked back up, confused. Just as he'd thought, Black didn't have a supply bag like the other contestants, and he wasn't asking for anything out of Kaita's. He felt a bit of a chill, even in the warm weather, and swallowed-the hacker hadn't eaten the last time they'd met, had he? Did he eat at all?

There was only one way to find out. "Aren't you hungry?" Black looked up in surprise. "Here-there's more forks so you won't have nasty good guy cooties or whatever." Kaita ran over, picked up a new fork, and came back.

Black looked at the pineapples, confused. "I..."

"You didn't have anything last night, did you? Then you're just as hungry as I was!"

"You're right. Thank you." Kaita couldn't help but notice how slowly Black ate, always one chunk at a time where he would've shoveled in two or three himself. And the older Netbattler chewed slowly, too, making every little bit last as long as it could. "If I were you, I never would've given anything to me," he said, amused, as he set the can and fork next to him. It was a completely empty can. Kaita was amazed to see that even the stuff the pineapple bits floated in was gone. "You're a pretty naive kid."

Though he was a little annoyed at first, Kaita said proudly, "That's what makes you a bad guy, just taking everything for yourself."

Black raised his eyebrow, then nodded to himself. "Very naive. You'd be amazed at how many people got rid of their partners because they thought they needed all the supplies to themselves, or they figured it was the first round. You and your girlfriend are the only two I've seen sharing a supply pack."

"She's not my-" A creaking sound sent Kaita leaping to his feet, grinning. "Mary-chan!" He and Turboman ran over to greet their friends.

"Kaita-kun, look!" Mary produced her key with a flourish.

"Awesome!" Kaita looked back. Black and Punk were already gone; considering how close they'd been to the brush, he wasn't surprised to see it.

"What's back there?" Mary asked, peering around Kaita.

"Nothing." Kaita turned back to his friend and said, "Come on, let's head to the final round!"


	13. I've Fought Dragons Mightier Than You

From what the others in the Catacombs told Enzan and Blues as they traveled the tunnels in search of the key they'd heard about, Kero hadn't been so melodramatic in her send-off after all.

"The key down here? Are you nuts?" The Midi looked from one resolute face to the other, eyes wide. "Oh. Oh, man... Bye. For good." She hurried off, leaving Enzan and Blues to watch her go.

"Feel like turning back, Blues?" Enzan asked coolly.

"Of course not," the Navi replied. The two continued on.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

On the second day, they ran into another pair of identical Navis, one carrying sound equipment and one with a camera. "I don't recognize you at all," the cameraman said. "How'd you find out about these tunnels?"

Enzan didn't see any harm in explaining, "Kero told us."

The boom operator sighed. Blues effortlessly sidestepped the long microphone as it sagged downward. "Of course she would. Well, there's not much here. Go up and look for a key, so we can make some videos."

"What about the key down here?" Blues asked.

The two personnel looked at each other for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, no! We're not touching that one!"

"We send one of the service Navis down there a couple times a week to clean out whoever wanders in. If you're lucky, one of them'll manage to get you out before you get too beat up," the cameraman told them. "Seriously, though, our boss is lucky he got that hole put in the Dimensional Area. We've had to send Operators to the hospital after their run-ins with Vuurwilde." Enzan and Blues exchanged glances. "Speaking of... Techno, out of the way!"

"I saw 'em coming, Techno. You think I'm blind?" admonished the boom operator. At first, it was hard to see the ice-blue suit all the Technos wore on the new Navi. There was something red covering his chest. As the new Techno came closer and the red thing's features became less shadowed, Enzan recognized Tesla unconscious in the Navi's arms. She had a long cut down her right leg and numerous smaller scrapes, and her rescuer didn't look much better with a chunk taken out of his side.

"What is Vuurwilde, anyway?" asked Enzan.

"Wish I could tell you," the boom operator said. "We're not allowed to blab on the key challenges, no matter how dangerous they are." The new Techno didn't even acknowledge Enzan and the other onlookers, just shuffled down the tunnel.

"Rethinking that plan?" the cameraman asked when Tesla was out of sight.

Blues was unimpressed. He turned to his Operator. "What do you think, Enzan-sama?"

He gave it some thought. Magnetman was a heavyset Navi, but he also had some devastating attacks on his side. Still, he preferred to stay in one place and send attacks at his opponent, while Blues was fast enough to evade what the other Navi couldn't. "I think we must be close. Might as well keep going," he said. "Thanks for all the well-wishes," he told the two filmmaking Technos.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

The tunnels were deserted by day three. In the interest of not having any extra weight, any baggage had been deposited near the beginning of the fork they were traveling. "It must be around here," Enzan commented. "The only question is, will we run into it or will it run into us?" Blues nodded, but his hearing was only for the quietest noises from the tunnels around them. Vuurwilde could be completely silent or loud as a stampede, for all he knew. Better to be careful than surprised. Enzan was on the lookout for it next to him. Now that they were so close to finding Vurrwilde, Blues found himself thinking back to Tesla's injuries. He gritted his teeth. He wouldn't be letting the monster do that kind of damage to his Operator.

Most of the earlier tunnels had been straightforward in layout, but the ones here had a number of forks in them, some rougher-looking than others. Blues turned a corner and found out why. All he managed to glean from the glance he got before he turned and shouted, "Enzan-sama, run!" was that the creature was a huge wyrm with red-orange armor and cold pricks of light for eyes. Vurrwilde was slithering after them, rumbles shooting up the tunnel as its body knocked into the walls. Blues didn't dare slow down. There simply wasn't enough room here to fight it.

Almost as soon as he thought that, Enzan said, "There's got to be a larger area-that'll be the best place to find its weak points!"

Blues gritted his teeth as they sprinted down a diagonally-running corridor. In the Internet, he would've put on an extra burst of speed to get away from Vuurwilde, but here he had Enzan to worry about. The teen was faster and had better stamina than most people his age, but the monster behind them was slowly beginning to narrow the gap. Luckily, they found the larger area they'd been looking for before anything could happen. The skylight at the top was evidence of how high the domed ceiling was, and the width gave Blues plenty of room to get away from the incoming Vurrwilde, Enzan right behind him.

The brightly-armored monster abruptly stopped once it was clear of the door, rearing back until it was balancing on its tail segment. Its head brushed against the ceiling in its corner as it let out a loud screech. Enzan and Blues both knew better than to stop moving along with it. They nearly made it the entire way across the room before Vurrwilde pounced, making Operator and Navi stumble as it crashed to the ground.

"Z-Saber, slot-in!" The white hilt and attached blue blade dropped into Blues' hand, and he ran to intercept Vuurwilde. The gap between them rapidly closed, even when Blues jumped up to make his strike. He slammed the Z-Saber into the center of Vuurwilde's shiny, red-orange head. The head and its attached body stopped moving, but it became obvious after a few seconds of trying to force the Z-Saber in that the huge dragon hadn't come to a halt because Blues had done damage to it. Before he'd figured out his next move, he was suddenly flying through the air-Vuurwilde had tossed him off its head, as if shaking away a flea. He angled himself to jump off the side of the dome-like cavern, propelling himself back at the monster. Its huge, spiky tail was rising up to meet him. One look at its jagged tip told Blues that hitting it at this speed would send him on a one-way trip back to his PET. He drew up the Z-Saber to block with the hilt, but he had no time to try turning his defense into an attack; he'd blocked it right at the tip, and the spikes were poking through his blue blade. Blues let go of it and dropped to the ground. He looked behind him to see Enzan there; he must've moved to get a better view of what was going on. Vuurwilde turned to face them, then suddenly froze again. As it reared up, it let its jaw hang limply open. Inside its mouth, something red was bubbling up-

As Vurrwilde tilted its head to put Enzan and Blues in its range, Enzan called, "Dream Aura!" Blues held out his hand, letting the Aura dome absorb the torrent of flames that poured out of their attacker's mouth. "It's got to have a weak point," Enzan said. "Until you find it, stay back! Mega Cannon, slot-in!" As Vurrwilde made a second charge and Blues dodged to the right, Enzan close behind, he saw exactly where to aim. Giving the snake-like virus its mobility despite the stiff armor were a series of evenly-spaced chinks that revealed black skin. Blues fired two shots into the nearest one and immediately saw results. The huge dragon curled around the place where Blues had hit it, screeching in pain. It was too soon to celebrate, though. Vurrwilde's head snapped over, its eyes meeting Blues's visor for a second, and then moved with surprising speed, stabbing its tail downward to nearly strike both Navi and Operator. Its serrated upper jaw swung open as its lower jaw scraped the ground, nearly catching Blues' silvery hair as it chomped down, then opened up for another try at taking a chunk out of Enzan or Blues. The teen wasn't sending any Battlechips with the constant barrage of attacks, but Blues wasn't sure what he'd do with one. The way things were now, Vurrwilde was just too aggressive to get any solid hits in edgewise.

"We can't win like this," Enzan managed to say before Vuurwilde stopped and reared up, letting its jaw drop. "Barrier, slot-in!"

Over the roar of the flames eating at their protection, Blues asked, "What do you suggest we do, Enzan-sama?"

Enzan looked over to the rapidly-melting Barrier, then back at his Navi. "We split up. If you keep its attention, it probably won't bother me. I'm no threat."

The Barrier splintered. Around them, fragments flew through the air before fading away. "Vulcan!" Enzan said, then sprinted to the left. Blues opened fire as he ran to the right, targeting one of the black chinks in its armored body. Vuurwilde screeched, hurling its tail spikes at his head. He jumped away, careful not to lose focus and let the Vulcan disappear. As Blues backed off, he could only spare a few glances on the stream of bullets hitting the black flesh holding on Vurrwilde's tail. The rest of his focus was on where he was going, making sure he didn't accidentally walk into a corner. He had to be ready when his enemy came after him. The massive dragon wasn't moving at the moment, still focusing on shifting its body to block the Vulcan's hits. It didn't have much to worry about; the Vulcan soon ran out of ammo, the spinning of its cylinder beginning to slow.

The Vulcan shifted back into his regular hand. Blues readied his sword for when it came after him-

A Neo Variable suddenly replaced it. Blues asked, "Enzan-sama?" He turned to look behind him. There was nothing else in the room besides Blues and one very angry dragon. "Enzan-sama!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Enzan had figured out within moments of the gel silently clamping over his mouth that he wasn't going to be sending many more Battlechips to Blues. The Neo Variable would provide the Navi with a little more range while his Operator was gone; in the meantime, Enzan had been encased by a bubble of the clear gel before falling underneath the ground, out of sight. Now, he was just waiting for this gel-bubble journey to conclude. He had to guess that this lower level he was traveling along was the cavern's natural floor after looking up to see blue tiles like the Internet had in spades.

The trip came to an end when the bubble rose up through the 'ground' again and popped, leaving Enzan still in the dark-and feeling like he was encased in something heavy. When he tried raising his arms, he felt the stuff on him shift with a series of metallic rattles-treasure, to match the dragon. There wasn't much of it-he was able to unearth his head with little trouble, putting him nose-to-edge with what had to be the key he was after. The rest of him followed, leaving him better able to get an idea of where he was. From the way the ceiling sloped upward, he had to guess it was an oversized treasure chest; as an experiment, he held one of the coins up to the red light the key gave off. The coin's surface was bizarrely smooth and undetailed, and it was just a gram or two too light for what it was supposed to be. Enzan let it drop back into the pile with a strangely stilted clink. "Nice try."

There wasn't much else of interest in the chest besides the key. Just a few polygonal 'jewels' and a notice printed on the back of the chest: _"You'd better hope Vuurwilde doesn't catch you in his treasure, thief!"_

Enzan crossed his arms as he leaned against the part of the wall containing the capital _V_, seriously doubting any such thing would happen with Blues on the job.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

There were two things certain about the situation Blues found himself in: Enzan had been kidnapped, and this dragon was preventing Blues from getting his Operator back. That only made him more determined to win. "Sonic Boom!" Blues sent the golden shockwave straight into the black patch underneath Vuurwilde's spiked tail, severing it. It dove toward Blues, but he was running to meet it. He swung his blade at its black neck furiously, but it quickly angled itself so Blues hit its armored head. His momentum gone, the Navi dropped to the ground in front of his enemy and jumped away before Vuurwilde scorched the ground with a jet of fire. "Behead it," he murmured, before dodging a full-body tackle from the snake-like beast with a well-timed jump. As soon as he'd landed, Blues returned to the air, aiming his sword as if planning another strike at Vurrwilde's neck. As usual, it lifted what remained of its tail to deflect the incoming blow, not noticing that Blues' jump hadn't taken him anywhere near its head. He struck just below the tail, the soft flesh underneath the fire dragon's armor giving way to his Neo Variable easily. Vuurwilde screeched in pain as Blues darted away. It barreled after him, flames escaping from the sides of its mouth. Blues found himself backed against the far wall of the chamber. As Vuurwilde closed the gap, he hopped against the wall and pushed off, aiming for just under its red-plated jaw. He swung his sword back, but Vurrwilde's mouth was suddenly wide open-the serrated jaws cut down hard before he was suddenly flying off to the side, Neo Variable vanishing as he hit the ground.

He stayed there for a few moments, winded, wincing at the many cuts Vuurwilde had given him. There had to be something he was missing. It couldn't end here. Blues rolled to the side, escaping a blast of fire from Vuurwilde. There was something red in the corner of his vision: a hollowed-out red cylinder. It had to be the remains of the last segment he'd managed to cut off. Blues flipped to his feet, heading back to where he'd gotten rid of the tail. There it was, the black areas missing like with the other segment. He hefted it off the ground, spike on the end pointed squarely at the oncoming beast. It opened its mouth, ready to clamp its jaws down. Inside, the black material stretched around its mouth. With a yell, Blues rammed the tail spike as far in as it would go. Vurrwilde's shrieks were ear-splittingly loud. Blues's default sword appeared on his arm as he watched the snake thrash. He jumped over it and swung his sword into its neck, slicing the head off. As first the head and then Blues landed, the rest of Vurrwilde's body seemed to stiffen. It fell backward with a thud, the black flesh pixellating and escaping from under the red armor.

The head was starting to glow from the inside. Blues brought his sword up, ready for a second attack, but Vurrwilde didn't seem to be moving. Cautiously, Blues came closer. The monster was definitely dead, but the same red light was beginning to shine on the opposite end of the room, illuminating a section of the cavern wall. As Blues walked toward the wall, it slid back to reveal a hidden chamber. Inside was a massive treasure chest; as Blues ran toward it, it opened.

Enzan swung his legs over and jumped down, a red-and-orange card held in one hand. "Took you long enough," he said with a grin.

"I assume that's the key, Enzan-sama?"

"You assume correctly." The light was pointing in the direction they'd come from. Enzan headed back toward the tunnel in, Blues right beside him. "Now, let's see who else made it."


	14. I Have the Strangest Feeling About This

**A/N**: First review of the fic, yay! (And if anyone would like to add a second review, or more, feel free!)

Glad to hear you like it so far, Kivuli! While I do have other EXE fics, they're all part of the same series as this one. They were all written while I was in high school and the first half of college, and I've since gone on to developing my own characters and settings. However, the next two that I'll post have a heavy focus on Meiru and Enzan, and all of the lead Operator/Navi pairs have about equal billing in the final fic, so your note about the lack of main character involvement does get at least somewhat addressed. And I wouldn't even say that there are any main characters from the series who never get any focus, either - in some cases, you just need to know where to look. Anyway, thank you so much for reviewing!

* * *

After the Midis had finished alternating between welcoming him to the Castillo and chewing him out for going after Vuurwilde, Enzan decided it was time to join whoever else had managed to find a key. Blues joined him, the scrapes his Operator had seen before now completely gone. Apparently, a few Technos had pointed him towards a recovery machine. They were directed down a hall decorated to the point of obnoxiousness-gold candelabras, large mirrors, and velvet-covered walls blared from either side. It led into a large dining hall that had enough places for thirty-two people-or Navis, Enzan supposed. The Technos disappeared back into the hallway, leaving him and Blues to look around on their own. Visible just through a large archway was a sunlit and much more tastefully decorated room. There were a number of comfortable-looking chairs and sofas lining the room, along with a few potted plants. A few people and their Navis were sitting around the room, talking to each other or watching the huge double doors. Meiru's familiar head of red hair poked out from behind the armrest of a loveseat close to the elaborate doors, where she was reclining with her legs resting on the other armrest. Her Navi, perched on top of the loveseat's back, noticed him first.

"Enzan! Where'd you come from?" wondered Roll. Meiru twisted around so she could see him, surprised, then moved so he could sit.

"That takes stealth to new levels," she said cheerfully. "We've been watching people come in all afternoon, and there you are out of nowhere!"

"There's an entrance underground," Enzan explained.

"Underground? Wow. You'll have to show us sometime," Meiru said. "So they have tunnels under there?"

"Yeah. Blues and I-"

A chime rang through the room, silencing most of the contestants. A voice declared, _"Attention, Netbattlers! In a few minutes, dinner will be held in the hall behind the lobby. I'll be telling you about the next stage of the tournament there, so don't miss out!"_ There was another chime, and then everyone resumed their conversations.

"He won't actually be there," Meiru said, rolling her eyes. "There's a speaker mounted on the wall in that dining room. I guess he thinks it's mysterious or something to not come in person." She sighed. "Do you know what it's like to talk to a little box over dinner?"

Before Enzan could answer, a blue-haired man stepped through the doors. His own shock was backed up by Meiru's gasp next to him; the Navi that followed him was Burnerman. "I'd recognize that grin anywhere," Meiru said. "Just like the real thing. I've never seen that Operator before, though..."

It seemed they were going to find out who he was soon enough. The man spotted them on his initial scan of the room and strode over to them, hands in the pockets of his black shirt. The two Net Saviors and their Navis stood, exchanged glances, and walked over to meet him. Though Burnerman's Operator was pale, Enzan knew it wouldn't be smart to cross him. His loose shirt and baggy denim shorts couldn't disguise his powerful-looking build. The man reached a corded arm toward Meiru, probably to shake hands like an Ameroupian would, then withdrew it and gave the usual polite bow. "I'm Homura Atsuki. Pleasure meeting you." Before Meiru could introduce herself, he said, "Sakurai, right? I'm afraid we're not on the same side. Black and I have been pals for years-enough said, right?" Meiru's friendly expression grew much less so. Atsuki turned his attention to Enzan. "Who's he?"

"Ijuuin Enzan," the Net Savior introduced himself.

"Pleasure." Atsuki's eyes caught something behind them. "Well, I won't subject you two to me and Black at the same time. We're all supposed to be having fun here, after all." He raised a hand in farewell and went to the back room, probably to find a seat. Meiru had already whirled around, hands clenched in preparation.

"He ruined it!" huffed a brown-haired man. His face didn't look like it was meant to be so thin, and his one brown eye seemed larger than it was because of it. "I was going to have so much fun." He pointed out the two youngest people in the room as he noted, "I mean, check out what I have to work with! The kid made it, the kid's girlfriend made it... Oh, and look!" His finger swung around to point at Meiru. "Meiru-chan, you're alive!" Whatever he was going to say next, Meiru didn't plan on hearing it. She stormed away, barely holding back from turning her nose to the air. "Okay. Fine. Meiru-chan, I'm so upset that you made it," he called sarcastically. "I hope you fall off one of the balconies and die. Maybe the force'd make your face look less ugly! Who knows?" She had obviously decided that ignoring Black was the way to go. Enzan decided to do the same thing, but that was when Black found his new target. "So, Enzan, think you're going to win this one?" The Net Savior was a little surprised at what Black had said; the hacker clearly realized what was odd, because he quickly added, "I mean, a _notorious_ defender of the peace like you must think he's going to stomp a low-life like me. Just don't let your guard down, and _maybe_ I'll let you through..."

"I don't think so," Punk said coolly, shooting Blues a disdainful look. "I've been havin' a grand old time crushing red Navis recently-sorry if you were feeling nice, Black."

The hacker shrugged. "It's cool." He regarded Enzan for a long moment with that brown eye, arms crossed. Enzan met his gaze, noting the flinch that produced.

"Ugh! That's it!" Meiru had stormed back. "Bug off!"

"Why? I'm not doing anything." Black came a little closer. "Would you like me to do something?"

"No," snapped Meiru.

"Okay," Black said with obnoxious cheer. "Punk and I will be scheming somewhere that-a-way, then. We'll find the perfect something to bring out that lovely shade of beet red in your face."

"You-!" Black strolled off, Punk next to him. Meiru watched him go with a scowl before turning to Enzan with an exasperated sigh.

"Interesting," the other Net Savior said honestly.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it." Black walked over to where Atsuki was seated, just to the right of the table's center. "Well, if they're going to sit over there," Meiru said, taking her partner's hand, "then we're going over here!" With that, she was off to the furthest-away seats there were, Enzan in tow.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Dingo! I didn't know you Netbattled!"

"Kaita-kun!" Dingo, one of the delivery boys at the curry shop where Chisao's brother worked, had just come through the door. Behind him was a Navi whose feathered headdress caught Kaita's eye.

"A Native Amerroupian Navi? That's so cool!" another familiar voice enthused.

"Hi, Kalama!" The dark-eyed girl waved to Kaita, as did Pele behind her. "That's great that you got a key!"

"It was so hard!" Kalama told her audience, "There was this big lake with a huge snaky dragon thing in it, and the key was on the bottom. There was a boat so I could see what was going on better, but being in the same water with that thing was nasty. And Pele doesn't do too well with water..." The blonde Navi winced. "I almost thought we weren't going to make it."

Before the other three Operators could share their own stories, the chime from earlier sounded again. _"If you're still out in the lobby, we're starting without you! Like I said before, the dining hall behind the lobby! Be there!"_

"Whoops! It's that room in there, right?" Dingo asked, pointing out the archway. "Let's go, guys!"

"It's like in Starpotter!" In front of them was a long table with places laid and food set down the center. Candelabras and chandeliers were lighting up as the light streaming through the windows diminished. "It smells great," Kaita sighed. The eight of them scrambled into the last cluster of free seats.

Kaita didn't notice what was wrong with them until he heard a rough voice laugh, "Well, well, if it isn't carboy! I didn't realize you an' that Operator of yours'd gotten a key!"

Another voice chimed in, "Getting those things really is all luck and no skill..." Across the table, next to a disgruntled-looking Dingo, was Black. Punk was to the older Netbattler's left. Kaita looked around for the one person he knew could fend Black off. Meiru had picked a seat next to a teen with strange hair and a pretty, blonde-haired woman. She was far away from the Nova member and his friend. "Now, now, don't run away," Black chided. "Fleeing from people at the dinner table is bad manners."

"Besides, everyone's sat down," the unfamiliar man across from Black said. "You don't have anywhere to go." He wore a loose, dark shirt with yellow-rimmed sleeves that stopped just under his elbows. "Homura Atsuki," he introduced himself, "and this is Burnerman." With a solid-looking arm, he indicated the Navi next to him, whose torso reminded Kaita of a giant cupcake. If he'd thought of any jokes to make about it, he stifled them when he saw the expression on the Navi's face. There was something downright deranged about that grin, and it communicated something similar to what Atsuki himself did: cross them, and Kaita would regret it.

_"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!"_ Everyone fell silent._ "Every pass key has been found, all sixteen of you are here, and so I can formally welcome you to the Castillo de Jalero! I'm sure you're all raring to get things started, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. A shame, I know... Even more of a disappointment, I have to explain a few things to you, but it _is _necessary. I know a few of you will be very relieved to hear some of what I have to say, though some others might be saddened or upset._

_"Firstly, you will be fighting nice, straightforward battles from here on out. No running around in the wilderness, no difficult tests, just using your combat skills-though I'm sure you'd all be good sports enough to go through another round of challenges if I asked you to! There's a nice, gardenlike battlefield in the center of this castle...fort...thing,_ _where you will have your matches as dictated by the bracket! Yes, there will be a bracket, and it'll be posted tomorrow morning. Adds to the fun if you don't know who you're up against until the last minute, you know. Speaking of that..._

_"Unlike the challenges you faced outside, the last thing I want is for the human contestants to be placed in the line of fire. As you'll find, the Operators are safe atop special platforms, both of which are protected by Dream Auras that last the entire match. You'll see the battle like even the N1 couldn't deliver-actually happening in the space around you! Spectators will be seated in the stands on the right side, so I hope to see all of you cheering your fellow contestants on! Don't worry, those are protected as well. I should hope that nothing too bad will happen to you all._

_"Speaking of bad things... I know some of you aren't very fond of your fellow competitors. Others just want to get ahead, and it was all well and good outside to run around sabotaging people as long as your Navi didn't attack and trap you with the furious target. However, I wish for fair fighting from all of you! No hacking, no stealing, and no roughhousing outside of the battles. You know who I'm talking about-go on, you three, hang your heads in shame..._ Kaita looked at Atsuki next to Turboman and Black across the table. Neither of them even looked embarrassed. He supposed this meant Yumi was here somewhere, too.

_"I think that's about it! As I said, the bracket and the times when you'll be Netbattling will be posted tomorrow morning at eight o' clock. Be sure to get up early so you don't get taken by surprise! Especially if you're in the first match."_ The man chuckled. Kaita bit his lip, and he could see Mary's hands coming up toward her mouth and Ring bouncing in her seat. It was exciting to know that the first fights were tomorrow, but not knowing if he was up against someone like Black or Meiru was beyond nerve-wracking._ "Any questions or whatnot can be addressed to one of those blue Navis you see posted around the room. Enjoy your dinner, and good luck!"_

"Oh, I'm so nervous!" squealed Ring as the contestants burst into chatter again.

Turboman said, "Me, too!"

Kaita was concentrating on eating, but he still kept enough of an ear open that he caught Dingo asking, "So, Kaita-kun, how's it going? I haven't seen you at Maha Ichiban since you and Chisao-kun played that trick on Dekao-kun..."

"That was so funny!" Tomahawkman exclaimed. "Gutsman and I saw it all. He was red as a beet!"

"Thank you, thank you!" Kaita laughed. "Hey, wait a minute, I haven't seen Chisao since the tournament started..." They looked around. Gutsman's distinctively bulky frame was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess he didn't make it," Dingo said.

"There were tons of people on that pier," Mary recalled. "I guess lots of them didn't make it here."

"Lots of people were invited in Jawaii, too," Kalama added. "And out of everyone, only sixteen pairs made it..." Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "That's where I know you!" she said to Dingo. "Maha Niban! You guys made the best curry. I was so disappointed when you guys closed up this summer..."

"We'll be moving back there again for the winter and spring," Tomahawkman said.

"We've got a lot of stuff to do in Japan first," Dingo reminded his Navi. "We've still got all fall at Maha Ichiban, after all. And Mahajarama's saying we're going to do some renovation soon, which probably means me carting everything around. New coats of paint, new seats, some more stuff on the walls... We might even replace the statue out front."

"Really?" With an odd amount of interest, Black asked, "What with? You guys have had that statue-"

"-since he got here, I'm sure, but that's hardly an indicator. We aren't from around here," Atsuki said dismissively, cutting the other Nova member off. "Neither of us are very familiar with the local businesses." Black had gone still in his chair. It didn't look like he was going to say anything now. Atsuki didn't seem to notice how quiet Black had gotten, because he casually continued on, "You have caught my interest, though. I haven't had a good plate of curry in ages."

Dingo seemed more interested in getting a new customer than in Black's odd behavior. Kaita tried to feel the same way. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Meiru's friend with the clump of white hair watching Black thoughtfully. Not even a second later, the other conversation was back in full swing, and the teen's attention had returned to the other people near him. "Any variety you like!" Dingo was telling Atsuki when Kaita's attention returned to what he was saying.

"Excellent! I have a weakness for seafood-isn't that right, Black?"

"Yes, you do," he responded. Kaita couldn't help noticing the lack of his usual enthusiasm. The boy supposed he should find Dingo's ignorance of Black's odd mood less strange. After all, they'd only known each other for all of a few minutes.

Oblivious as usual, Dingo enthused, "We've got shrimp curry and fish curry-though as a fan myself, I'd say go for the shrimp, we have a special every Tuesday..."


	15. I Like the Festivities

**A/N**: Another review! This is awesome!

MI3, that's exactly what I was thinking when I chose to use Kaita and Mary as leads - that it would be nice to have a couple of other characters in the spotlight for a change. In terms of shipping, I intentionally left it up to the reader (though I, too, ship Meiru and Enzan in this story...). There are a lot of close friendships, but no explicit romance, so you can ship whatever you want and probably find evidence for it! XD

* * *

Like their dinner had been, breakfast was already laid out on the table when Kaita, Mary, and their Navis got there. While their Operators ate, Turboman and Ring were kept busy trying to keep Beat from poking around the food too much. Kaita wolfed down his food-he wanted to see who he was Netbattling against-but then had to wait while Mary finished her breakfast.

"That's weird. They're all out of order..." Though Roll's name was on the bottom of the bracket, she and Meiru would be fighting a Navi named Quickman first. Kaita sighed in relief; he and Turboman weren't fighting the Net Savior duo or Punk. The name of his opponent was unfamiliar to him. "We'll do our best against him, no matter what he fights like!" he said to Turboman.

Behind him, Mary greeted, "Hi, Meiru-san!"

"Good morning, Kaita-kun, Mary-chan! And to you two, of course," Meiru greeted the four. "Let's see..."

"We're first," Roll noticed, pointing out her name on the bracket.

"We are?" Meiru looked at it for a moment before sighing, "Man... I'm kind of nervous now."

"You and Roll'll do great, Meiru-san!" Kaita said.

Meiru smiled. "Thanks, Kaita-kun."

Roll studied the bracket some more. "This is really weird, though. We're at the bottom, but we go first... And Black and Punk are near the top, but they're second."

"I guess he wants to keep us on our toes, or something," Ring said. Beat chirped his agreement.

"Hey, is that Beat?" The bird flew over to the two Net Saviors. "What happened to you?" Meiru asked. "You gave us a hand when we got our key, but then you disappeared..."

"He's been with us for a few days," Mary explained. "I guess he just wanted to see the island." The blue bird chirped happily. "That sounds like a yes to me."

"That makes sense," Roll said. "He left after we'd decided to head here."

The familiar chime that signaled an announcement from their host was followed by, "_Everyone seen who they're up against? Then let's begin! If you're Netbattling, make your way to the center arena, if not, head for the stands! Good luck!"_

Meiru didn't even wait for the final chime. "Guess we'd better get going."

"Good luck!" Mary cheered.

"Thank you. I hope you guys do well in your matches, too!"

Mary, Ring, and Turboman headed for the stands, Beat right behind them. Kaita turned to follow them, but then he remembered something. "Hey, Meiru-san, who was that guy you were sitting with last night? The one with the weird hair?"

"Wha-" Meiru burst out laughing, Roll giggling next to her. Once she'd calmed down, she explained, "That was Ijuuin Enzan, another Net Savior. He's a good friend of mine. Don't let him hear you saying that about his hair, though!"

"I won't," Kaita promised sheepishly. "Good luck, Meiru-san!"

"Thanks!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

The stands were in a glass box that stood out a little bit from the wall. Kaita was one of the last ones there. The seats were nearly full-there weren't that many rows of them.

"Kaita-kun! Over here!" Ring called.

He had to make his way past a number of people and Navis, some of whom were almost too heavily armored or gangly to get past while sitting. "I'm sorry... Excuse me..." Kaita turned to the back rows to squeeze past an especially creepy Navi and saw Enzan. He and the red-armored Navi next to him were sitting a row back and to the left of Mary and Ring. By the time Kaita sat down, Meiru and Roll were already in the grassy, open-air arena below. Their opponent wore red chest armor, gloves, and boots over his black bodysuit. A large, golden crescent adorned his red helmet. The Navi's Operator was casually dressed in a hoodie and pants, and his soft smile complimented his laid-back image.

"I haven't seen you in some time, Meiru-chan," he said. "I hope you'll give Quickman and me a good match."

"We'll do our best, Daisuke-kun," Meiru replied.

From above everyone's heads, the voice of their host rang out,_ "Let the match begin!" _Quickman needed no further urging to speed toward Roll.

"Area Steal, slot-in!" Quickman plunged the golden talon on his gauntlet into empty air. Kaita had almost thought the Area Steal hadn't made it in time, Quickman had gotten there so fast. "Samurai Sword!" Roll dove from the color-streaked sky, sword pointed downward. Quickman brought one talon up to block and drove the other at the symbol on Roll's chest. "Shirahadori!" The talon's point halted inches from Roll's chest. Quickman was too close to get away from the triad of shockwaves that jetted out to send him skidding back.

"Not bad," he said with a grin. He took off to the side. Kaita could barely keep his eyes on Quickman. Meiru had drawn out a Battlechip, waiting for the right moment to use it. One boomerang after another flew through the air, forcing Roll to concentrate on sidestepping and ducking under them. She didn't even have time to use any attacks in between. "So, how long can you keep up before your guard slips?" Quickman taunted.

Meiru's brow furrowed in thought; then, she put away her first Battlechip and drew out a new one. "Wide Sword, slot in!" Now that she was armed with the thick blade, Roll could let its flat do the talking, which required much less effort on her part. One after another, the boomerangs hit the sword and bounced off; but Kaita could see that she couldn't keep it up forever. After its fifth use as a shield, the Wide Sword was beginning to sport tiny cracks. Before it was in too much danger of breaking, Meiru called, "Now, Neo Variable!"

Roll deflected one more golden blur with the Wide Sword on one hand as the other changed into the more intimidating Neo Variable. With a cry of, "Sonic Boom!" she hurled a golden energy wave at the spot where Quickman was going to throw his next boomerang.

Quickman skidded to a halt, eyes wide-with the damage from the Shirahadori, he probably couldn't take a hit like that-and ran forward as Roll finally let the Wide Sword revert into her normal hand. Roll readied herself, but her opponent had no intention of letting her take an easy win. He put on an extra burst of speed, suddenly in her face and swinging his fist-and the talon on his arm-in an uppercut. Roll blocked the first hit, but she had nothing to defend herself from the golden talon on Quickman's other arm. Meiru yelled, "Battlechip-" but it was too late. With a shout of triumph, Quickman slashed downward. As he zipped away, Roll stumbled backward, clutching the wide slash that was letting blue data trickle from her chest. It had missed her Navi symbol by millimeters.

Daisuke's smile turned into a small smirk. "Finish it, Quickman!" It was like Quickman was teleporting, he was moving so fast. He dashed from place to place, throwing a boomerang every time he stopped. When he'd finished, there were ten golden shimmers of light hurtling toward Roll. It had taken him less than a second.

Roll gasped, taking a step backward even though she knew it was pointless-

Quickman zipped back to the center with a smirk-

Meiru slammed three Battlechips into her PET-

The boomerangs tore into Roll, leaving many huge gashes that leaked blue data. She fell backwards lifelessly. Meiru's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say a word. "Looks like that's it," Quickman said smugly. Kaita stared down at Roll's damaged body in shock. Many of the other contestants had stopped watching the battle and were talking to each other. Kaita caught a few comments about how fast Quickman was, how Roll hadn't stood a chance. He looked up. Enzan hadn't taken his eyes off the fight. He obviously didn't think it was over. The Net Savior glanced over at Kaita, and the boy quickly faced forward, embarrassed.

He nearly missed the finishing blow, it happened so fast. Something-a lot of things-whistled through the air, ramming into Quickman. At least twenty shuriken had found their target when he logged out, and a few more rammed into the spot before a burst of smoke appeared in front of the spot where Quickman had stood. A figure was barely visible sitting in a crouch inside.

"Program Advance: Bodyguard," Roll said triumphantly as the smoke dissipated.

In the stands, Kaita and Turboman watched in awe as Roll stood and ran over to Meiru. "Wow," Turboman said. Kaita could only nod at first.

Daisuke looked shocked at first, almost angry, but quickly schooled his features into his usual polite smile. "Very good, Meiru-chan," he said.

"That was a little harsh, wasn't it?" Mary asked, looking at the match's loser with concern.

Turboman shrugged. "He forced her hand. A normal Kawarimi would've given it away a lot sooner than that Program Advance did, plus she'd be left with no attack."

"That was _amazing_!" Once the surprise had worn off, Kaita was nearly bouncing out of his seat in excitement. "When the boomerangs were coming right at her, and Meiru-san was all like, "yeah right, eat this!" and that awesome thing with the smoke was so _cool_ and come on! Let's go tell her!"

"She'll come up here, you know! We can talk to her and Roll-san then if some other Netbattle hasn't started." Turboman sighed, "Besides, she probably already knows it's cool. You'd just embarrass us." His eyes lit up as he suggested, "But Meiru-san was burning rubber to get those Battlechips in before Quickman's boomerangs got there! We could tell her that!"

"I don't see how that's different from the smoke thing." Before Turboman could say anything else, Kaita asked, "So, who's Netbattling next?"

"I think it's..." Turboman remembered who it was and groaned, "...Black."


	16. I Think the Battles Are Exciting

**A/N:** Thanks for reviewing again, MI3! I always figured they were planning to make Meiru a Net Savior before the show was forced to a halt, so when I was writing this, I took the opportunity to do just that. ^^ Meiru's one of my favorite characters, so I'm especially glad you like how I'm portraying her.

* * *

Sure enough, Black was the first one to enter the stadium after Meiru, Roll, and Daisuke had left. Punk followed after, cracking his knuckles. Turboman winced in sympathy for whoever he was going to face. As soon as he'd seen the Navi on the opposite end of the battlefield, though, his feeling sorry for the challenger vanished. A white-armored, spindly Navi was facing Punk, leering at the rust-red Navi with tiny, slit-like eyes and two menacing rows of teeth. His Operator wore a black dress that only made her pale skin seem even whiter. The two braids that framed her unreadable face each had a hoop tied into their ends that glinted sinisterly in the sun.

"They're all creepy down there," Kaita said quietly.

Down below, the blue-haired woman commanded, "Get ready, Skullman." Her Navi just sneered at his opponent.

Their host had barely said, _"Let the match begin!"_ before Skullman was suddenly at Punk's side. The spindly Navi wasn't able to score a hit before his opponent ducked under and got further away, but that didn't seem to concern him. He was circling Punk, getting faster and faster with each step.

If Quickman had been fast, Skullman was even faster. Ring gasped, "It's like he's invisible!"

Punk was having trouble keeping his eye on Skullman, but Black didn't seem worried. "Battlechip: Minibomb! Triple slot-in!"

"Minibombs?" Mary wondered. "He doesn't seriously think that'll hit Skullman, does he?" They exploded in a half-circle around Punk, filling the arena with smoke. The four spectators gasped in surprise-they could see a figure darting through the smoke, leaving it streaming behind him.

"Super Vulcan!" Punk's arm shot up, and Skullman was knocked back as his opponent scored a direct hit.

The eerie Navi didn't seem to have any intention of letting up. "Onibi!" Kaita knew from experience that a projectile attack, like the purple fireball that Skullman shot from his hands, didn't do much good against Punk. The rust-red Navi dodged with ease, but that wasn't the only trick Skullman had at his disposal. His head tilted to an extent that made Kaita wince as he called, "Bone Stalker!" His forearms flew toward Punk, and they were followed by a new flurry of Onibis.

"Watch your back!" Black yelled as his Navi ducked and weaved at a frantic pace. Punk barely managed to backflip over the returning Bone Stalker attack in time to dodge it.

"Double-Go-Round!" yelled Punk, sending his shoulderplates out. Skullman moved away before they had even come a foot closer to him. His Operator didn't even flinch as the Dream Aura flared to life, deflecting the two discus-like projectiles and leaving them to fall harmlessly to the ground.

"Bet you wish you hadn't sent your defense away," he cackled, reappearing right in front of Punk. He slammed his palm into the other Navi's face, who grunted as he was thrown to the ground.

With some effort, Punk lifted his head to look back at his enemy. He panted, "Bet you wish you hadn't gotten so close." With that, he whipped his mace arm toward him, jerking Skullman off his feet. The Navi's arms rotated far behind him, and he grunted as they took his weight and dragged against the ground.

"Why doesn't he use an Area Steal or something to keep up with Skullman?" Kaita asked as the white-faced Navi jerked his ensnared foot back, causing Punk to release his grip for fear of toppling.

"Because that sort of stuff doesn't work against him," Meiru explained. Kaita and his friends turned around, surprised to see her already in the stands. As she sat, she continued, "What Black did at first is more like what he'd have to do to keep winning-keep Skullman visible. The less he does that, the better chance he has of losing!" Though what Meiru had said might have been true, Punk's maneuvers seemed to have worked in his Operator's favor, too. Skullman reeled back as a Mega Cannon's blast slammed into his chest-his opponent had caught him trying to stand up. Punk took the opportunity to reach over with his cable arm and grab one of his shoulderplates.

"I hope he tries a Mad Roller," Turboman said with a grin. "No way'll that be fast enough to catch Skullman, even when he's off guard."

"Besides that, Skullman's almost recovered! If Punk tries getting that other frisbee of his, he'll get clobbered!" Ring pointed out. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be what Punk wanted to do. The next time Skullman used his Onibi attack, his opponent whipped his shield forward to block.

Kaita nearly missed Skullman's Operator finally taking action. "Bad Spice, triple slot-in." A triad of viruses released clouds of powder around Punk. Though they'd just put him to sleep at worst, even dazing him would be lethal in a Netbattle against Skullman, and the rust-red Navi knew it. Genuine alarm was in his eyes as the powder drew closer.

"Oh no, you didn't," Black said. "Cyclone, slot-in!"

"Shoot!" Meiru muttered. Kaita saw why when Punk began to spin in the air, whipping up a small tornado whose gusts of wind pushed the sleeping powder toward the viruses-who dropped from the air and vanished, stunned by their own attack-and Skullman. His green, pinprick-small irises slowly scanned the poisonous air wafting toward him before he shot forward and through, knocking Punk out of the Cyclone attack with a well-placed Onibi to its center.

"Wow! He went through it so fast, it didn't even affect him!" Kaita exclaimed.

"It did," Enzan said. Kaita looked up at him, surprised, and then back to the Netbattle. It was all Punk could do to keep Skullman from scoring a hit above or below his red shield. "It's just difficult to tell."

Mary looked at the fight, eyes narrowing as Punk shot his mace toward Skullman and managed to nick a spindly leg. "Skullman's slowed down!" she realized, looking up at the Net Savior for confirmation.

"Got it in one." Black had noticed the slowdown, too; Kaita wished he could wipe the smirk off the man's face as Punk drew up his mace for another attack. "Of course, that's no reason for his opponent to get cocky..." Skullman fired an Onibi at Punk's legs as his mace plunged downwards. The spiked cylinder missed its mark as its owner staggered, giving Skullman the chance to hurl a punch into the other Navi's chest. Though Punk was knocked off balance, he didn't even have the chance to hit the ground before Skullman was behind him, kicking him in the other direction with a short laugh. It was like the skeletal Navi was coming at Punk from every direction, not even giving the Navi another chance to attack before a hard fist or sharp knee connected. The red Navi was grunting with every hit, his expression looking more and more pained as the assault went on.

"Bet he doesn't like a taste of his own medicine!" Turboman taunted, remembering his defeat at Punk's hands.

But Kaita knew that Black wasn't about to freeze in panic and leave his Navi defenseless. "Area Steal!" Punk reappeared to the left of his Operator, panting.

"Elec Sword," intoned Skullman's Operator, and her Navi charged forward.

Black watched with gritted teeth as the Elec Sword formed on Skullman's hand. Kaita grinned; the Nova member was obviously trying to think of a strategy, but there was no time. Skullman was raising his sword to deliver the final blow. Smugly, Ring said, "I'd like to see him make a comeback now!"

"Area Steal!" Punk vanished from underneath. "Minibomb, chain slot-in!" The crackling sound of an Elec Sword of Punk's own began to sound from within the smoke.

"Come and get me," the red Navi taunted, whipping the smoke around with his practice swings.

Skullman didn't rise to the taunt. "Bone Stalker!" His forearms whipped through the air, churning through the smoke. But just as quickly as they'd shot forward, one's trajectory stopped in an explosion; even as the smoke started to clear, Punk wheeled his Vulcan around to destroy the second limb. Kaita knew that if they were anything like Punk's mace, not only would they not automatically regenerate, but Skullman had also lost the use of Battlechips.

Another round of Minibombs replenished the smoke in time for Skullman to rush forward. "Paladin Sword! Senshahou!" Punk's shot lit up the area ahead of him, burning through the smoke. Skullman was forced to dodge to the side, where Punk's mace arm was waiting to slice through the Navi's waist. Skullman disappeared in a log out soon after.

The defeated Navi's operator looked at Black with her unreadable gray eyes. "I understand," she said calmly. Then, she turned and left.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Turboman wondered.

"No clue," Ring said.


	17. I Feel Like Nothing Could Go Wrong

Kaita was sick of sitting around. After watching Black win, he also wasn't looking forward to watching Arrow wipe the floor with someone he barely knew. After watching the mace of a huge, bulky Navi shatter some Lightspeed Arrows with ease, taking Arrow by surprise, Kaita decided he'd had enough of fidgeting. Perhaps this heavily-armored Navi had some hope after all, but Kaita had been sitting there _all day_! He told Mary he was going to look for the bathroom and scooted to the end of the row. Turboman was close behind him as he left the sounds of the fight behind.

After following the hallway they'd come through that morning, they arrived in the huge room the Operators had had dinner and breakfast in. To Kaita's surprise, a pair of Navis were setting the table for lunch. The female Navi noticed them first. She looked surprised to see them, but still greeted, "Hello, challenger!"

"Uh, hi," Kaita said. "It's already time for lunch?"

"Oh, no, not for a while. There'll be one more Netbattle after the one currently taking place, and then you'll all get your lunch break."

The male Navi had noticed Kaita and Turboman by now, and hurried over. "Aren't they supposed to be watching the matches, Midi?" he asked his partner.

"You're right," she said. "Are you not feeling well? Would you like to go back to your suite?"

"No, I'm just... looking for the bathroom," he said.

"Isn't there one just outside the stadium, Techno?" Midi asked the male Navi. Kaita gritted his teeth in frustration. "However, if you just want to wander, a shortcut to the interesting section of the guest area is down the hallway behind me and to your left."

Kaita thanked her and got a polite smile in return. Then, he and Turboman left the two Navis to their duties. "Down the hallway and to our left, huh..." This was a plainer-looking corridor than most of the Castillo's opulent halls.

"I bet it's a service hall," Turboman said. "This'll probably take us straight to all the good stuff!" The first doorway they got to was nothing special; just brooms, mops, and replacement towels and sheets for the rooms. "Maybe it won't," the Navi mumbled, shutting the door.

"We can't just give up now that we've come this far," Kaita declared. "Come on!" When he opened the next door, it revealed an unfamiliar hallway decorated more like the other guest areas Kaita had been in. Coming from a doorway at the end of the hall were sounds the boy would recognize anywhere. "There's an arcade here? Sweet!" Kaita dashed over, Turboman right next to him.

"This is way better than the ones at home," Turboman said, looking around at the neon-lit room. "Check this out!"

Kaita looked over. "That's Max Booster 10!" he exclaimed, running over to admire the mock car interior, built life-size and resting on a gyroscopic platform. "Nobody has that game!"

"It must be really expensive," Turboman remarked. "Just look at how large it is..."

"None of these are that cheap," Kaita noticed. Games where the player drilled underground and sat in the cockpit of a drill-tipped machine to do it, fighting games where the player felt the punches... "They don't have many of the ones you use Navis for, though," Kaita noticed. "I guess because you're out here."

"Probably," Turboman said. "We'll have to come back here later! But there's got to be a lot more in the Castillo than this."

"I guess we should check everything else out," Kaita said reluctantly. The next room had wall-to-wall racks of CDs and a massive speaker system rising from the center, with four curved sofas in a ring around it. Kaita poked his head in for a second and said, "Boring."

"They should have something like that hooked up to a game system," Turboman commented. "I don't think I could take just sitting there for hours doing nothing..."

"I know what you mean," Kaita said. The next room had a door, which he opened. He stuck his head in and quickly pulled it out. "It's cold!" he exclaimed.

Turboman, who wasn't sensitive to the chill, was the one to look around. "It's just wine," he reported. "The entire room."

"Boring," Kaita said. "Hey, there's some stairs over here!"

"Maybe all the good stuff's underground," Turboman said as they began their descent.

"Must be." Before long, they came to a landing. "This room's pretty weird..." The back wall was lined with a strange, glowing wall, whose shade of blue reminded Kaita of the shade data usually took in the Internet. On closer inspection, the surface didn't seem to be real at all, just something sitting in front of the real wall. Wires traveled from the white frame ringing it to the center of the room, where there was a cylindrical device riddled with cracks. Blue light pulsed out of them for a few moments, then faded. Kaita jumped as a trio of large sparks crackled on the faux wall's surface. Soon, a blue-clad figure had stepped out of it, identical to his brother setting the table upstairs. "Maybe it's some kind of energy field," he murmured, more to himself than Turboman. He thought he'd been quiet, but he still caught Techno's attention; the Navi's eyes snapped over to them in surprise, then narrowed.

"I'm not sure if you're supposed to be here," he said suspiciously. "There's nothing against it in memory, but this is all meant to take place behind the scenes."

"We're good at keeping secrets!" Kaita reassured him quickly.

Techno scrutinized them for a long moment. Finally, after Kaita was absolutely certain he was in trouble, the Navi merely shrugged. "Okay." He walked to the door. "Lunch starts in two minutes. I'd suggest you bring your snooping around to a close." He slipped between Kaita and Turboman and began to ascend the stairs.

"Hmph," grunted Turboman. "I bet the good stuff's at the bottom, that's why he's so snooty about it."

Kaita grinned, excited again. "Yeah. Come on!" There didn't seem to be any source of light down here except for what shone down from the upper levels, but Turboman's green eyes acted as a dull flashlight for his Operator. Even with the extra light, Kaita was still careful as he descended, one hand on the wall. When he looked over at it, he noticed it was getting dust caked on it. "Nobody comes down here much, do they?" he asked, wrinkling his nose and wiping the dust off on his shorts. With the stairwell's abandoned state in mind, he didn't want to lose his balance down here. There seemed to be a pretty good chance that no one would come to save him.

"We've hit the bottom," Turboman reported. Kaita could barely see it for himself. Here in the depths the light was dim, all coming from the stairwell at Kaita's back. Some huge thing that resembled a boot was sitting right in front of him. As Turboman lifted his head to take a look, green light bounced off of shoulder armor; a massive, muscular chest; a thick nose; an angular helmet, with two spikes jutting out and up from either side. Kaita's eyes widened, and he took a few steps back-it was a Navi! Though it was a bit hard to tell in the dark, its eyes seemed to be closed. Kaita thought that was a huge relief. In the meantime, there was something fantastic about finding a giant in the basement of a castle.

Kaita grinned up at the stony face for a moment, then said, "Maybe we should go back."

Behind his Operator, Turboman had been looking up at the giant's face in awe. "He doesn't look very friendly, does he?"

"Not really." Quietly, worried they'd wake the huge Navi up, Kaita and Turboman began to climb back up the stairs.

"I wonder what he's doing there?" Turboman asked as they passed the landing and the Navi room.

"Maybe he's been trapped there for some reason," Kaita speculated. "Maybe..." He frowned.

"Maybe he's another test?" finished Turboman. Kaita nodded. "An unused one. Has to be! Scialto-san did say there wouldn't be any more tests."

"You're right," Kaita said as he took the last step up to the first floor. "I hope I didn't miss lunch."


	18. I'm Nervous, But Thrilled

**A/N:** yay new review from MI3! Thank you so much! Well, it could always be worse... at least the giant Navi's asleep. And I didn't even notice until you pointed it out, but the chapters really vary in length right now, don't they? XD This one's way longer! Anyway, glad you're continuing to enjoy the story!

* * *

"Thank goodness you're here!" Mary exclaimed as Kaita and Turboman rushed into the dining hall. "I was worried you'd miss your match."

"Yeah, it's right after this! Hurry up and eat!" Ring told Kaita as he sat. The table was less crowded than it had been the night before; not only were there three less Navis to seat, but it looked like a lot of people had finished eating already.

"Where were you?" Mary asked while Kaita loaded up his plate. "You missed some really good matches."

"We were checking out the Castillo," Turboman said. "You wouldn't believe what's in here! Some of it was really boring, but there's this basement level..."

Now that he was back in the company of the other competitors, Kaita realized that he still didn't know who he was up against. After the excitement of the first two Netbattles and wandering the Castillo, he didn't even remember their names. The huge, bulky Navi that had been fighting Arrow-who, along with Yumi, was nowhere to be seen-had already won, as had Meiru and Black, which was a huge relief. As long as he wasn't facing those two, he felt fairly certain he could win. He also didn't remember seeing Enzan's name under his own. But what if this Netbattler was as good as any of them? What if the competition was too fast, too strong, or too clever?

"Nervous?" Mary asked. Kaita looked up. She and the two Navis were all looking at him.

"Yeah," he admitted, a little embarrassed.

Mary smiled. "Me, too. But as long as we do our best, we've got as good a chance as anyone, right?"

Kaita took a deep breath. It only seemed to make the nervousness and excitement swell in his chest. "Right!" he said.

"Yes, those were some lovely words from the lovely Mary-chan, but doing your best won't help things if you're passed out from hunger! Don't just push those potatoes around. Eat. EAT!" Ring urged, pumping her fist. Mary giggled.

"I got it, I got it," Kaita mumbled before concentrating on eating as fast as he could. He and his friends were still the last four out of the dining hall when he'd finished. "Down the other way, right?" he asked when they got to the hallway that led to the stands.

"I think so," Mary said. "I bet there'll be directions down there somewhere, too. Good luck, you two!"

"Thanks!" Mary and Ring walked off to find their seats, leaving Kaita and Turboman alone to face their opponents.

Kaita was bouncing up and down. "This is scary!" he said, beaming with excitement.

"I know!" Turboman said, sounding just as jumpy.

They turned the corner when they saw an arrow and a printed sign that read, 'Challenger's Box'. The next hallway led to a door. Hanging on it was another sign that read, 'Please continue on to the other side.' Next to that message was an arrow that pointed them to another hallway.

"As long as we keep our heads on straight, we'll be just fine," Turboman said as they were walking down the hallway, their footsteps now muffled by a thick, red carpet.

"Right," Kaita said. "That just seems really hard right now..." Another corner. Sunlight was streaming in from the doorway. "Good luck, Turboman!"

"You too, Kaita-kun!" They passed through a small, box-like chunk of hallway, then through another doorway. It was bright outside. It took a moment for Kaita's eyes to adjust to take in the battlefield he'd seen so much of that day. It was larger than it looked up above. Across from them, a blonde-haired, foreign-looking man was watching his two opponents enter through brown-tinted sunglasses. Turboman took his place in front of Kaita's platform, directly across from a Navi that looked like a cross between a man and a helicopter, complete with a four-bladed propeller fanning out on his back.

"Finally!" the blonde man said, his voice amplified by the speakers on either side of the field. "I was wondering if you'd gotten lost in there!"

"Um..." Kaita wasn't sure what to say to that. "No?"

Kaita's opponent laughed. "You're a funny kid," he said. "Since the guy up there doesn't seem too fond of introductions, name's Charlie. You are?"

"Kaita," the boy said. "Todoroki Kaita."

The _"Let the match begin!"_ sounded extra impatient. Charlie stuck his tongue out at the high window.

Then, pointing across the field to Turboman, he called, "Let's go, Gyroman!"

As the other Navi began to run forward, Turboman popped off the two tires on his shoulders. With a shout of "Turbo Wheel!" he hurled them at Gyroman. They hit the ground and hurtled toward the yellow-armored Navi, whose only response was to stop and laugh.

"You think you can hit me with that?" As he jumped up, the propeller on his back started spinning, easily taking him out of Turboman's reach. "It's my turn now!"

"Energy Bomb, slot-in!" Charlie called. A gray bomb with three orange half-spheres attached to it materialized in Gyroman's hand. He didn't waste any time hurling it down at Turboman. Kaita tried to hide his grin; if there was one thing Turboman could definitely handle, it was bomb-type Battlechips. Sure enough, Turboman zipped away. Kaita squeezed his eyes shut as a spray of grass and dirt flew up where the Energy Bomb hit. He didn't feel anything hitting him; he opened his eyes in time to see a second Energy Bomb hit the ground right next to him and saw the Dream Aura around him absorb the dust like it would any other attack. Turboman dashed down the field, craters marking the trail behind him.

"Not bad," Charlie said. "Boy's Bomb!" It was a chip Kaita was unfamiliar with. A fairly large, yellow box materialized in Gyroman's hands. He dropped it in the center of the battlefield, nowhere near where Turboman was. A red antenna was poking out the top; when it started to shrink in size, Kaita realized that it was the fuse.

"Turboman!"

"Got it! Turbo W-" Before he could throw his tires at the Boy's Bomb, another Energy Bomb nearly managed to hit him.

Before Turboman could try again, Kaita said, "I'll get it! Cannon, slot-in!"

Charlie grinned. "I've got you now. Energy Bomb, Cross Bomb, slot-in!" Kaita focused on firing the Cannon, leaving Turboman to run away from the Energy Bomb. It was when Gyroman threw the Cross Bomb that Kaita noticed where Turboman-and the Cross Bomb heading for the ground in front of him-was: near the corner of the battlefield, right next to his Cannon. Turboman skidded to a halt and flung himself in the direction he'd come from. A huge, X-shaped series of explosions tore through Kaita's Cannon and helped propel Turboman forward. He twisted around and hurled his tires at the weakened Boy's Bomb. It split apart and vanished as Turboman skidded along the ground on his side.

Gyroman paused in midair. Once Turboman had scrambled to his feet, Kaita sent him a Corn Shot. The gray-faced Navi crossed his arms. "Now what? I'm sick of playing cat and mouse." Turboman took the opportunity to use the Corn Shot on him, which he easily dodged.

"Don't worry, Gyroman, I've got something! Kouri Hougan, quadruple slot-in!"

Gyroman grinned. "I get it!" Four blue-white balls appeared in midair, and Gyroman snatched them out of the sky. "Target locked!" He hurled one of the bombs down, but Turboman dodged it just like he had every other projectile the yellow Navi had tried to hit him with. The second bomb came hurtling down, but its target was safely to the left by the time it touched the ground, sending up a huge spray of ice. At first, Kaita was relieved that Turboman was still dodging the attacks, but when Gyroman let go of Kouri Hougans three and four, he realized what Charlie's plan was. Turboman hadn't been touched, but now he was locked in place between the two northwest walls of the Castillo and a thick wall of ice.

Gyroman slowed to a stop above his opponent's icy prison. "Finally got you cornered!"

Charlie's grin was nearly identical to his Navi's as he said, "Now, hold still for a sec... Bamboo Lance, slot-in!"

The yellow-armored Navi raised his hand in the air as he summoned, "Bamboo Lance!"

Turboman's head shot down as a rumbling filled the air, making a short hop up in place at the last minute. The stand of bamboo shot out of the ground, but Turboman's legs touched down before he could get impaled by the stalks. They elevated him into the air until his head was level with the high towers of the Castillo. "I can't believe I did that," Turboman said, mirroring the thoughts of his Operator.

Charlie whistled. "Pretty good," he said. But he wasn't deterred. Instead, he seemed excited. "But let's see how this changes the match-after all, the air is Gyroman's domain!"

Kaita looked around, craning his neck to see how the battlefield had changed. Turboman was far from stuck up there. There were plenty of bamboo stalks poking out of the ground. But all of them ended in the same diagonal cut, with one sharp point sticking up. One misstep, one fall, and it was over. Near Turboman was the roof, which looked much flatter and safer. The only impediments were the four towers that marked each corner of the battlefield and the thick Plexiglas room that held the stands. Turboman seemed to think the roof was safer, too, because he jumped down onto it to dodge Gyroman's next barrage of bombs. When he promptly disappeared behind a cluster of bamboo, Kaita realized what the problem with that plan was. Gyroman flew closer. Not sure of what else to do, the black-haired Operator hurriedly sent in a Mega Cannon.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Turboman looked down at his hand in surprise as it morphed into a Mega Cannon. He wasted no time nailing Gyroman with it. Now that they were closer together, the flying Navi had become much easier to hit. But he had a feeling that his new position would elicit a change of plans from his opponent, and he wasn't surprised there. Both of Gyroman's forearms had morphed into Long Swords, and the airborne Navi grinned as he suddenly barreled downward. The twin swords scraped against the Castillo's stone rooftop. Turboman didn't know where to go to evade them. Gyroman rammed into him, sending him flying back into one of the towers. The red Navi groaned and looked up to see his opponent coming toward him, swords pointed at his chest. He swiftly got his feet under him and jumped away, leaving Gyroman to crash into the tower. Turboman wished he hadn't jumped so high; it didn't take his opponent that long to come unstuck, and now he was a long way away from the ground-and right in the yellow Navi's clutches.

"I see you!" Kaita said through the PET's communication. "Area Steal!" Turboman vanished just before Gyroman could finish him off with a twin strike from the Long Swords. He reappeared atop one of the towers, which didn't help him much. Gyroman had already snapped around, and now he had two Spread Guns. "W-What happens if you get sent out of the Castillo?" Kaita wondered.

Turboman didn't want to find out. In desperation, he flung a tire at Gyroman with a shout of, "Turbo Wheel!" The yellow Navi's propeller carried him out of range with ease, leaving the tire to fall a short way before vanishing in a flurry of pixels.

"Nope, still doesn't work on me!" Gyroman said. "Try this!" Turboman cringed away from the attack, then realized that he had a clear shot at the next wall of the Castillo. He zoomed away, falling more than jumping to the lower level as the air filled with buster shots. However, the two Spread Guns meant Gyroman had more of a range than Turboman had expected; a few found their mark, making the red Navi swerve and bringing him dangerously close to the edge. Then, an explosion behind him sent him off his feet. "Got you now," Gyroman said with a grin, one arm shifting into a Wide Sword. Below him, Turboman struggled to hang onto the arena wall's edge. Down below was more of the castle; maybe he could take the fight down there...

_"Ah, new rule!"_ their host said hurriedly. Gyroman had no time for this announcement, simply stabbing downward. Turboman kept having to change his grip from one hand to the other to avoid getting his fingers sliced off. _"The battleground is limited to the arena and its four walls and towers! Completely leaving those boundaries is a ring out and a victory for the remaining Navi! So hang on, Turboman!"_ If he'd been a little less occupied, Turboman would've snapped that he knew to do that, thank you very much. As it was, he pulled himself up a little higher on his next change of hands, tightening his other arm in preparation. He extended that arm upward as his hand came down, pulling his body up to deliver a powerful kick to Gyroman's chest. The helicopter-like Navi was surprisingly light, easily getting pushed back by Turboman's leg. The yellow Navi's feet next came down to skid over the edge of the roof, sending him plummeting out of sight. Turboman sighed in relief; maybe his opponent had fallen on one of the Bamboo Lances. But while Turboman was getting to his feet on the roof, Gyroman was already rising into the air above him.

"It takes more than that to win against me." Bombs were materializing in Gyroman's hands.

"I could say the same thing!" A short hop put Turboman on top of the stands, another took him off the slightly raised pane of Plexiglas, and soon his back was pressed to the wall of the next tower. Gyroman was finding it tougher to hit Turboman with this batch of bombs; he'd have to come in closer to finish the red Navi off. Turboman knew what he had to do to beat Gyroman. He muttered, "If I just had the right chip..."

"He's got to come in close soon, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Kaita called, "Silver Fist!" Though the heavier armor formed around Turboman's forearm, he didn't attack immediately. He knew he only had one shot. Gyroman drew back for a second, let his hand change into a Elec Sword, and dove down at Turboman. The red Navi sprang off the wall, flying at his opponent with his fist drawn back. With a yell, he slammed the Silver Fist down on Gyroman's torso, sending the other Navi into the tangle of bamboo below in an instant. Everything underneath him vanished, leaving Turboman to land on the battlefield alone.

Charlie looked down at his PET, then back up to Kaita and Turboman. "Well, that was a pretty good match," he said. "Keep it up in the next round!"

Kaita said, "Thanks! I will!" The two Operators headed back inside, Turboman easily catching up with Kaita.


	19. I Believe in Everyone I Trust

**A/N**: MI3, that age question reminds me a lot of the fiction workshop class I'm taking now! Ages are a lot more important to the reader than I used to think, aren't they? Kaita and Mary were eleven in Neo Alliances and probably still are, though they'll be twelve when we next see them; Meiru is on the verge of turning seventeen; Enzan is seventeen and won't be eighteen until the winter; and Black says he's twenty-two, Atsuki is twenty-four, and Yumi is twenty. Anyway, glad you liked the last chapter, and thank you so much for reviewing!

* * *

After he and Turboman had gotten inside, they met one of the Technos. "Take this Recovery chip," he said, offering it to Kaita. "It should take care of the damage from your match." Turboman's body flared white as Kaita slotted the chip in. "How are you feeling?" Techno asked before Kaita could.

"That seems to have fueled me up," Turboman said, giving Kaita and the Techno a thumbs-up. "Thanks!"

Kaita headed back into the hallway and saw Mary and Ring waiting for him. Above their heads, a light changed from green to red as the door clicked shut. Kaita hadn't even noticed it was there before-he'd been too nervous. "Is your match next?" he asked.

"Of course!" Ring replied. "Hurry and get back to your seat so you can cheer us on!"

"I don't think you can actually hear anyone in the bleachers down there, Ring-chan," Turboman said. "I think the glass is too thick."

Ring blinked. "Oh." She shrugged and said, "Well, it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Kaita-kun, you did great," Mary said with a smile.

Kaita grinned back. "Thanks!"

The overhead light flashed green. "Well, I guess that means we should head out," Mary said. "I just hope Ring-chan and I do as well as you and Turboman, Kaita-kun."

"Don't worry. You'll do great!" Kaita said.

"How could she not with me as her Navi?" Ring boasted. "You guys should hurry back to your seats! You won't want to miss a second of this!"

Turboman said, "Right, right. Good luck, Ring-chan!"

"You too, Mary-chan!" Kaita said. The blonde smiled and gave him a nod, and then he and Turboman were running back toward the bleachers. While they were climbing the stairs, they heard the announcer begin the match. Dingo, Tomahawkman, and Kalama cheered the loudest for Mary and Ring, while Beat flew around above their heads, chirping excitedly. Kaita grinned. "Well, it's the thought that counts, right?" he asked Turboman.

"Yeah!" the red-armored Navi replied as they reached the top of the stairs.

Down below, Kaita was surprised to see who was commanding, "Get to it, Toadman!" He recognized the forest green suit and cap; they could only belong to Midorikawa Kero, the news presenter who covered most of the region's big events. He had never seen her using her Navi before; he'd just assumed she didn't have one.

"Kero!" shouted Toadman, spitting musical notes from his mouth. Ring jumped to the left, but the frog-like Navi was quick to follow her.

"Battlechip: Corn Shot!" Ring's arm had barely shifted into the smiling ear of corn before she opened fire. Toadman took a step backward, but was hit full force by the kernels. As he flew backward, a hovering lily pad blipped to life underneath him. He landed feet first on it and started firing musical notes again. Ring's Corn Shot wasn't much of a problem now that Toadman had his ride. It was too fast for the kernels to connect, and Ring was soon too preoccupied with trying to dodge to keep firing.

"That's it, Toadman!" cheered Kero. "Battlechip: Boomerang! Slot-in!" The projectile and its holster formed over Toadman's arm, and he wasted no time in firing it.

Ring easily sidestepped the Boomerang. "It's not that smart to send a boomerang after the expert," she chided. Toadman simply started firing his musical notes again, leaving Ring scrambling to stay away. Nervously, she laughed, "That's better, though!"

Kaita watched with bated breath as Kero announced, "Mega Cannon! Slot-in!" Ring's eyes widened as the Mega Cannon cut off her escape. Toadman's melody hit home, but its victim didn't fly back. She was frozen in place, sparks flying from her body.

The Mega Cannon rotated on its turret to fire on Ring. As Mary sent in a Barrier, Kaita said, "This is bad. They can't even attack..."

"And if Mary-chan doesn't have other Barriers, Ring-chan's toast if another note hits her," Turboman finished.

"Not to mention the match goes nowhere like this!" Kalama chimed in. From his perch on her shoulder, Beat nodded his agreement.

Kaita heard a noise from below, drawing his attention back to the battle. Ring's Barrier had shattered, leaving the Navi to return to dodging attacks. Fortunately, the Mega Cannon hadn't been replaced by another. Mary commanded, "Ring-chan, Ring Boomerang!"

"Huh?" Ring hadn't even finished turning her head to look back in confusion before she got the idea. "Got it!" As she dodged another stream of notes, she taunted, "How about I show you the way to really throw a boomerang!" She plucked the two large rings from the bottom of her pigtails and called, "Take this!" as she hurled them.

One curved sharply right in front of Toadman's path, forcing him to stop. The other aimed at Toadman's green boots. He simply jumped up to dodge them. "You'll have to do better than that, kero!"

"Oh, don't worry," Ring said.

Mary called, "Vulcan, slot-in!" The machine gun picked Toadman out of the air, sending him flying back much faster than the lily pad could. He crashed to the ground with a wail. "And now, Magma Cannon!"

Toadman watched with wide eyes as his ride was incinerated, but Kero didn't seem too concerned. "Toadman can create as many lily pads as he wants! You may have set us back, but not for long!"

"Shotgun, slot-in!" Ring had no intention of giving Toadman the chance to regain the upper hand, if the way she was peppering the field was any indication. Kaita grinned; now, it was Toadman's turn to scramble.

"Not bad, but this is better! Air Hockey, double slot-in!" Kero said. Ring's Shotgun blasts were cut off as Toadman sent the first puck her way. He threw the second one at an angle, leaving it to ricochet off the Castillo walls. Kaita had a bad feeling of where this was going, and he was proven right: while Ring was busy dancing around the two hockey pucks as one bounced from Aura to Aura and the other sped around the field, Toadman was watching for the right moment. Both pucks came within inches of Ring, and she stood still to let them pass her. Paralysis from Toadman's melody gripped her before she had a chance to dodge. She was snapped out of it by the first Air Hockey returning to knock her feet out from under her, toppling her easily. The Navi girl groaned and got to her hands and knees, but the second puck sent her sprawling again.

"Ring-chan!"

She didn't look too good; Kaita knew that those last hits had to have taken away a lot of hit points, and a cut on her side was leaking blue pixels. Still, she grinned and gave her Operator a thumbs up. "I'm fine. Mary-chan, let's finish this off! You know what to do, right?"

Mary nodded, determination overtaking her worry. "Right. Heavy Shake, slot-in!"

"We've got some bad news for you, water-boy! Ring Boomerang!" Kaita expected her to send all ten rings out, but she instead went with grabbing the two largest ones and throwing them.

"Kero!" cheered Toadman, twisting to the side so the rings shot down on either side of him. There was a thud behind him. No sooner had he turned around to see Ring's Heavy Shake than the Navi girl had vanished in an Area Steal. Kaita watched her reappear her back in the position she'd started in, catching her rings with a smirk as Toadman turned around.

"Mag Bolt, slot-in!" Mary called.

"I love toad sandwiches," Ring said with a grin, lifting her hand as it was replaced by a U-shaped magnet. Sparks began to shoot from either tip.

"Dang it! Toadman!" yelled Kero, gesturing wildly for her Navi to evade. But it was already too late-the bar between the two weights on either end of the Heavy Shake smacked hard into Toadman as it sped toward Ring's Mag Bolt, trapping him in the path of the electric sparks. Moments later, Toadman's body lit up with electricity, the only thing keeping the Mag Bolt's two ends and the Heavy Shake from meeting. Finally, the steel weight thunked against the magnet, sending Ring staggering backward a few steps; Toadman had logged out.

"Pi pipi," sighed Beat.

"I know what you mean," Kaita said. "That was really close-hey, I forgot to ask, where'd you come from?" he asked. "I haven't seen you for a while today!"

Beat looked away innocently. "Pi pi..."

"Never mind that, the next match is gonna start soon!" Dingo said. "Kalama-chan's up next."

"Hey, Kaita," Turboman said. "We should go see how Ring-chan's doing. She didn't look too good at the end of that Netbattle..."

"Yeah, you're right," Kaita said. "I don't think a Recovery chip would repair her completely..."


	20. I Think He's Frightening

"Mary-chan!" The girl and her Navi were just outside the hallway that led to the battlefield. She looked up, surprised. "Is Ring okay?"

She smiled. "Of course. Those Navis that work here showed us to a restoration machine afterwards-I guess it's like a recharge of the PET."

"Mm-hm! I feel great!" Ring said. "That sure was a close one, though. And yours was really close, too, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. It's going to be really tough to keep winning," Kaita said. He and his friends started heading back to the stands. "Turboman's holding seats for us. Kalama-chan's going to Netbattle next!"

"With who?" Mary asked as they began to climb the steps to the glass-protected seats.

Kaita shrugged. "Don't remember." When they reached the top, he couldn't hold back his surprise. "Atsuki!"

"It's very nice to meet you," the blue-haired man said to Kalama as Kaita hurried to his seat. Burnerman wasn't nearly so friendly with Pele, just leering at her with his creepy, manic grin. "It's always interesting to fight another Fire-element specialist."

There was something in Atsuki's eyes-it was almost amusement-that made his politeness creepy to Kaita. The boy could only imagine how much worse it had to be for Kalama. After all, she was on the receiving end of Atsuki's stare. "I won't lose to you," she said, but it was quieter than usual.

This time, Atsuki let his amusement show. "Good luck, miss."

The announcer had clearly had enough. Before Kalama could answer, he called, _"Let the match begin!"_

"Do it, Burnerman!" Atsuki commanded.

The Navi tilted his head back and threw his arms to the sides as blue-hot fire exploded from the vents on his helmet and torso, both of his arm cannons, and his Navi symbol. "Burning Jet!" The bulky Navi threw his weight forward, propelling himself toward Pele and scorching the ground black. Kaita couldn't help but wonder how the Midis and Technos would clean that one up. Pele jumped to the side, landing in a crouch. Burnerman leaned hard to the side, slowing as he turned around.

"Pele's Hair!" The two locks of hair that curled over Pele's shoulders snapped on target. Golden strands of flame shot from them, twining around Burnerman. There was a miniature tornado of fire around him by the time Pele was finished.

The Navi's only response was an, "Oh, come on!" Even as the needle-like attacks hammered into him, he grinned. "You can't fight me with fire, that's just ridiculous." He propelled himself forward, sniggering as he came closer.

"That's more than enough. I think we've got your attack all figured out, right, Pele?" Kalama's Navi grinned in response, sidestepping again as Burnerman came forward. "Vulcan, slot-in!" As Burnerman leaned into another turn, Pele opened fire. Burnerman skidded backward, knocked out of his attack.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with an attack that slow!" Pele mocked.

"Yeah, I hope you weren't relying on your big, flashy attack!" crowed Kalama.

"Good thing I wasn't. Bubble Shot, slot-in!" called Atsuki.

The smiles dropped off both girls' faces. "Dodge it!" Kalama yelled. Pele threw herself out of the initial water blob's way, but was unprepared for what happened when the Bubble Shot continued on. It hit the Dream Aura and burst apart, spraying Pele with small streams of water.

"Nngh-"

"Daifunsui, slot-in!" Burnerman was beaming as he raised his arm, summoning a wall of water to crash down on Pele. When the torrent died down, she was coughing, defenseless if Burnerman and Atsuki chose to keep attacking.

"It doesn't matter what element your Navi is," Atsuki chided. His tone of voice was friendly, but Kalama was hardly smiling at the lecture. "You should always carry a good variety of Battlechips. There's no excuse not to."

"You're not the only ones with tricks up your sleeves," Kalama shot back, though she was clearly shaken. "Forest Bomb, slot-in!"

"Forest Bomb!" Pele yelled, hurling the seed forward. There was a loud cracking sound as it split open. Kaita wasn't the only one in the stands surprised by what came out; the trunk-like towers were now pillars of flame, surrounding Burnerman in a wave of fire and coming closer with each new row.

"So it's on fire," Burnerman said. "I could do that in my sleep."

"Should I bother wasting an Area Steal?" Atsuki asked.

"Don't think so. Burning Sword!" It was less a sword than a thick burst of red flame. Either way, it incinerated the Forest Bomb's towers in a matter of seconds. Kalama flinched as cinders bounced off her Dream Aura in little shimmering flashes.

Atsuki smirked at the other Operator's reaction. "Please don't let yourself get distracted from the Netbattle," he said.

Pele gasped as Burnerman yelled, "Burning Jet!" and rushed toward her again. He wasn't coming straight at her, and Kaita could see why after the Navi had made a few swoops. It wasn't the fiery part of the attack Pele had to worry about, it was how fast Burnerman's heavy-looking frame came crashing down on her. And the way Burnerman had planned his attack pattern, he was both making her stay in one spot and picking up speed by not making the sharp turns that had allowed his opponent to stop him earlier.

"It only makes you easier to beat." Kalama had taken out a Battlechip-Kaita had to guess an Area Steal-but she wasn't fast enough to keep Pele away from Burnerman's final charge. The blonde Navi was hurled into her Operator's protective shield, sparks flying as it dealt even more damage to her. Data was slowly leaking from her back and arms as she vanished, logged out.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

On the highest level of the Castillo, inside the special studio that oversaw the cameras and housed the master controls to the P.A. system, two humans and a small, lithe Navi were watching the two Operators walk away through the large window to the studio's side. Atsuki threw a smirk up at the three before he even bothered to start moving.

"I don't like him," the woman muttered. Her Navi seemed to agree, the ribbon tied around her bun flicking in the air as she tossed her head. "Him or that partner of his."

"He's up against Blues next, Clara," Alexander said, leaning back contentedly. The angle did nothing to flatter the beginnings of a spare tire around his midsection. "Do you mean Burnerman or Black when you say 'partner'?" To the Navi, he said, "Pirou, save that footage." Her tutu rustled as she stood and gracefully stepped over to the console, pressing down buttons with what seemed to be the lightest of touches.

"I don't like either, personally," Clara said. Though she was trim and petite while Alexander was soft-looking and sprawling, they still shared the same sandy-colored hair and brown eyes. "And I noticed you weren't exactly itching to join Black for dinner during his first stay, either."

Alexander laughed. "I guess you're right. Though I think you're going to be disappointed if you opt to cheer against Black..."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "You know something."

"Of course not, Clara! Well, I don't _know_ anything. Suspect, maybe." Alexander smiled. "He's going to win it."

"What?" the woman asked, shocked. "That doesn't make any sense! First you say Burnerman's going to lose against Blues-"

"I never said that," Alexander said innocently. "Suggest? Perhaps. Believe? Maybe. But you were saying?"

"My point is, Atsuki and Black are so similar. If one's going to lose against Enzan, so's the other."

"They're not similar," Alexander said, suddenly serious. "They don't fight similar at all." He typed a command into the console under the window, summoning the maintenance Navis to fix the battlefield. "Speaking of Blues, he's going to finish out today's matches. I can't wait to see what he'll do."

"Didn't he beat that monster Black put in the Catacombs?" Clara asked.

"Yep."

"Really? Wow." Pirou looked over, surprised as well, before turning back to watching the Midis and Technos swarm across the field with squares of grass, ripping out whatever had been charred and extinguishing any fires that remained. Her Operator continued, "I didn't think anyone was going to do it."

"It's different than any of the other challenges. All up to the Navi for that one," Alexander said. He leaned over and pushed a few buttons, bringing up black-and-white footage of the fire wyrm nearly clamping its mouth shut on Enzan and Blues. Clara winced. "And it helped that Enzan managed to get a Neo Variable to Blues before he was taken out. The other Operators pretty much just sat there in shock..."

"And you think Black, who did nothing but brave a little cold-"

Alexander put in, "Minus ten!"

Clara was unimpressed. "-without having to beat any enemies for his key, is going to win against the wonder team."

Alexander grinned. "You just wait and see."


	21. I Wish I Could Be So Fearless

**A/N:** Ah, that's okay, MI3! Busy happens - it certainly has for me this year. I'm just glad you're still reading and enjoying, and that you had time to leave a review again. And on the age thing, no problem! I can see where it might be really confusing, especially when most of these people are usually twelve or so, yet Kaita and Mary have decidedly less power and experience... I think I might stick something about it in my profile, too, so it's not lost in the middle of this fic. The writing class has turned out to be pretty interesting! It's given me a lot to keep in mind as I keep writing original stuff. And now, your wish comes true - at last, Enzan and Blues round off the first set of Netbattles!

* * *

"I hope Kalama's all right," Kaita said as the Technos and Midis began to file out of the battlefield, leaving the grass pristine.

"Me, too. That was really harsh." Nobody seemed to be coming onto the battlefield, so Turboman asked, "Was that the last one?"

Dingo said, "Can't be. Enzan must be next."

"Enzan?" Kaita asked. He could barely remember where he'd heard the name after such a long day. "The Net Savior?" he asked, after watching the white-haired teen enter the battlefield with Blues at his side. "But I'm starting to get hungry..."

"Aw, come on, you've gotta stick around for this one!" Dingo told the doubtful boy, "You just watch-Meiru's really good, but Enzan's no pushover, either!"

A slender woman with a long ponytail and a small, blade-like ring in her hair walked out, her red coat billowing behind her a little with each step. A gray-faced Navi with a red helmet, red-and-blue chest armor, and two enormous blades mounted on either shoulder followed her.

"That's Metalman... so that must be Tamako!" Kaita was confused, so Dingo explained, "A friend of mine knew her. She's supposed to be pretty good. With Enzan and someone like her fighting, this match should be great!"

As usual, no sooner had the two gotten into position than the announcer said, _"Let the match begin!"_

"Metal Missile!" Out of three holes on Metalman's back came a trio of red-capped rockets. They locked onto position and zipped forward, much faster than Kaita had expected. Blues' right glove shifted into a red sword, and he cleaved all three apart with apparent ease. But that wasn't the end of the attack. There was only a slight pause before another set of three missiles came out, and Blues ripped them apart once again.

As more missiles came rocketing out, Kaita noticed, "He can't move like this. Shouldn't Enzan-?"

Down below, the Net Savior said, "That's enough." This time, Blues shot to the side, leaving the three missiles to crash into the ground. The next barrage was dodged just as easily. The white-haired Navi was starting to come closer to Metalman, and there seemed to be nothing the larger Navi could do to stop it.

Dingo grinned. "See? It wasn't about getting out of the way. They've got Metalman's number now!"

Tamako didn't seem to be set back by this. She said, "Guess there's no use playing keep-away! Do it, Metalman!" Metalman ran forward, then jumped toward Blues as a pair of thrusters ignited on his back. The extra speed catapulted him at Blues in the blink of an eye. The red-armored Navi ducked under and sidestepped, but Metalman whirled around, still focused on his target.

"Metal Blades!" Metalman brought the two saw-like rings down only for Blues to block them with his sword. The two stayed locked in a stalemate for a few seconds, each unable to overpower the other.

"Battlechip: Yo-yo! Slot-in!" While Blues' sword hand remained steady, his other glove was replaced by a silver holster.

"Oh, no you don't! Area Steal!" Before Blues could send out the Yo-yo, Metalman disappeared in a blur of color. The red-armored Navi turned slowly, keeping an eye out for his opponent.

To Kaita's surprise, Metalman reappeared where no Netbattler he knew would bother looking: only meters away from the spot where he'd first vanished. Blues whirled around as Metalman detached his jagged blades. "Metal Wheel!" Though Blues was clipped by one of the blades, he managed a solid hit of his own with the Yo-yo still attached to his left arm.

"Not bad," Enzan said with a smirk.

"You're not too shabby yourself!" replied Tamako.

"Kaita..." Mary had gotten out of her seat. "I'm worried about Kalama-chan..."

It was hard for Kaita to decide whether to focus on the two Navis fighting with their blades below or Mary, who had a good point. "I know, but... Uh..."

"Tell me all about the match when we get back, okay? I'm going to go find her." She turned back to her Navi. "Ring-chan, you can stay, too." The yellow-clad Navi tried not to look too relieved as her Operator left the stands.

Down below, Metalman was pressing down hard on Blues' sword. The white-haired Navi pushed himself away from Metalman, backing away even as Metalman yelled, "Metal Wheel!"

"Kouri Hougan, slot-in!" A light blue bomb appeared in Blues' hand, which he hurled at one of the incoming blades. It hit its mark. Now much heavier, the blade fell to the ground, where it froze into place. "Neo Variable!"

"Sonic Boom!" One hit Metalman's glove as he tried to evade, but he'd activated his boosters by the time the other came toward him.

Tamako clenched her fist as she said, "We're gonna finish this now. Do it, Metalman!" The huge Navi drew back his fist, boosters still propelling him toward Blues as a blue light started to build on his hand.

Just then, the door to the stands opened, and Kalama and Mary came through it. The tanned girl's eyes were red, and she was wiping her nose. That wasn't what startled Kaita. Mary looked furious, the hand that wasn't holding Kalama's clenched into a fist at her side. Kaita had never seen his friend so mad-or mad at all-before. For the first time since the Netbattle had started, he forgot it was even going on, instead looking at Mary in amazement.

"Atsuki..." she explained, looking behind her-probably to make sure she hadn't been followed. "I'll explain later." With that, she and Kalama took their seats.

"Metal Fist!" That snapped Kaita's attention back to the fight. Metalman had brought his fist-and all the energy built up inside it-down on Blues, who barely managed to sidestep in time. Even the wind from that powerful attack was enough to make him stagger. But he had the advantage now; Metalman was still trying to recover from that massive attack when Blues sliced down with a newly-received Long Blade, giving his opponent a long cut on his back. Metalman grunted, then whirled around. "Metal Wheel!" Blues easily sidestepped the first pass. But as the circular blade started to come back, its owner vanished. Blues evaded the Metal Wheel again, stepping right into the clutches of the newly-reappeared Metalman. The larger Navi's fist was already drawn back. "Metal Fist!" He slammed it into Blues' stomach.

Kaita stared in shock as the smaller Navi doubled over. "Huh? But Blues totally could've gotten away from that!" The red-armored Navi staggered backward, clutching his gut. Metalman grinned and ran forward, charging the Metal Fist that would defeat his opponent. But something had changed in Blues' countenance. He let himself fall backwards, gravity bringing him down before Metalman's fist could reach him. His arms took his weight as he shot his legs into the top-heavy Navi's ankles. In the position he was in, Metalman couldn't balance; as he fell, Blues' Wide Blade swiped through his left arm and some of his torso. Metalman's body froze, morphed into the words 'LOG OUT', and vanished.

"Whoa..." Tamako's shocked look turned into a grin. "That was some fight!" she called to her opponent. To her Navi, she said, "Great work, Metalman."

Kaita was speechless for the second time that day. If he had to fight against Enzan and Blues, he felt certain the match would be over in a matter of seconds. He only hoped he wouldn't have to for the next round.

"Hey, Kaita..." Ring poked his shoulder.

Kaita looked over. "Huh? Hey, where is everyone!" Both the stands and the stadium below were deserted. Kaita could faintly hear footsteps and people laughing from outside.

"They went to dinner without you," Ring giggled. "Better hurry and catch up!"

Kaita ran downstairs, where he found an empty seat next to Turboman. Now that there were fewer Navis, everyone seemed to be splitting into groups: Enzan, Meiru, their blonde friend, and their Navis at one end; Kaita and his friends nearby, but closer to the middle; and on the other side of them, a few scattered contestants and the Nova members at the end. Black, Atsuki, and Yumi were talking about something that was apparently funny. Kaita figured it was bad news, whatever it was. Arrow was missing, but Burnerman and Punk stood on either side of the group, silent.

"I can't believe that guy," Mary said, pointing out Atsuki.

"What'd he do?" Kaita asked.

That seemed to make Mary mad all over again. "Winning wasn't good enough for that creep. When I found Kalama-chan, he left, but the whole time before... Just because someone's won doesn't mean they can harass the loser." She looked over at the Nova end of the table, her gaze steady and cold. "But if they're Nova, we'll run into them again. And when we do, Ring-chan and I'll teach them a lesson on Kalama-chan's behalf!"

"They won't know what hit 'em," Kalama said. "You were really good in your Netbattle today, Mary-chan!"

"Um, thanks," Mary said modestly, fiddling with one of the strands of hair that hung over her ears. "So, Kaita, what'd I miss?"

"Well, it was really close," Turboman began.

"Yeah, but Enzan-san was ready for anything!" Kaita said. "That thing he did at the end-that was so cool! One hit point weaker and he never could've done it! And managing to pull off a win like that, even though Metalman was super-tough-but Blues was way too fast for him!"

"Uh, Kaita-kun, she was there for that," Turboman cut in.

"But it's just like I said, right?" Dingo asked cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah!" Kaita said, "I can't wait for his next Netbattle! Tomorrow's going to be so cool..."


	22. I Never Considered This Possibility

**A/N: **Sorry about the lack of update last week - finals week is here, and I was too busy working on my senior project proposal to find any extra time. But that should be the only hiccup in the posting, because finals end Tuesday!

MI3, thanks again for reviewing! That really stinks that there's no writing classes at your school. They've been really helpful to both my writing speed and quality. Though I'd have to guess you're in high school, for there to be no large-scale English department; every school I looked at had some form of creative writing. If you find the right college, you'll definitely be able to do lots of writing!

As for whether Mary vs Kaita or Meiru vs Enzan is on the cards... at least one of them is, I'll tell you that much. (In fact, one already happened waaaay back in chapter two of Neo Alliances!) Now, just remember what the story summary says - things aren't always as they seem...

* * *

Black followed Atsuki to the side of the older man's suite that had a large window overlooking the forest outside. Punk and Burnerman had been left in the kitchenette, the closest Atsuki could get to sending them off to do some task. Black had stayed silent while Atsuki ordered the Navis to be quiet and not interrupt, hoping Punk knew it wasn't personal. The Navi's frame was among the least humanlike he'd seen, and was consequently harder to read. But if the restraint he'd shown was any indication, he'd had treatment like Atsuki's before. Though Black knew that trying to pick a fight over something like this wasn't worth it, it was no reason for him to adopt his colleague's practices.

Atsuki was already holding an open bottle of beer, and he uncapped a second to hand to Black. The two Nova members clinked their bottles together. "To our success," Atsuki toasted. Black nodded, and the two took swallows. "Not as good as back home," the blue-haired man commented.

Black had to agree. "But then, that's the official specialty. I wouldn't expect anything else to match it."

"True. You think Mr. Scialto has any of that hanging around?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Black said, looking down at his nail tapping against the glass. "He's got stuff from all over."

"Oh, really?" Atsuki smirked. Suddenly dead serious, he commanded, "Report what he has and to what degree he can use it."

Black rattled off, "He has an impressive array of computers, not to mention the Areas, but it's all inferior to our stuff. His security's abysmal; even a child could break in. It's obvious that he can't actually use most of what he's got-after all, he had to hire me to do the work. He either doesn't know about or can't control anything else he could deploy with the Area up. He's hardly a threat. Do you want any further detail?"

"Ha!" Atsuki took a long drink before he said, "Very good, very good. Still, we're not always on the job. You know there's nothing we can do at the moment, so relax!"

Black's eye narrowed. Now, he realized that Atsuki was just messing with him. "The clock is ticking, and he must be-"

"Oh, go on. Be honest."

Brown hair fell in front of his eye as Black slumped back into the chair. "I minded this much less than I thought I would," he muttered.

Atsuki leaned over to catch his words, grinning. "Really?" He plonked a hand down on Black's head and ruffled the smaller man's hair. Black softly laughed, trying to smooth it down and making it worse instead. "So, you're loosening up after all. Here I was thinking you'd stay glued to your job..."

"The more I think about it, the more I wish I had." It wasn't like Black to show off for an audience this large, not anymore; he'd found that attracting attention brought trouble, regardless of the context. Even if it was fun to Netbattle without anything major at stake, he had better things to do. He sighed, "He's going to kill us when we tell him about this. Wasting all this time on some stupid tournament..."

Atsuki shrugged. "He didn't say we couldn't pick up odd jobs while we were here. In your case, getting into this was an accident. And we both know you're the real key to this-I could never do what you're trying."

"Mm." Black got another idea. "The whole gang's here, too. We can always say we were doing some observation for these two weeks."

"That's exactly what I'll say when I send my report off. Thank you." Atsuki took another swig of beer and leaned back to gaze out at the forest and the ocean barely visible beyond. "You really don't have to answer to me. It's your mission-I know I enjoyed the extra power when I was on my first."

"Habit," Black explained, not sure if he was supposed to be apologizing as well.

"I know," Atsuki said. "As long as you can make the decisions that count without waiting for me, that's what matters." Black nodded, focused on the other man. "But you shouldn't have a problem with that. You've always had a decent head on your shoulders."

"I do try," Black said, smiling and looking down at his drink at the praise.

"Of course you do." Atsuki put his hand over Black's, prompting the younger man's eye to dart back up to meet his face. "You've never led me wrong when I've been on the field, have you? Remember, this isn't any different. Just a bit of a larger scale."

Black sighed. "I know. You just make it look so... effortless."

"Experience. You'll get there." Atsuki took a long drink from his bottle. Black took a smaller one; it didn't take much to give him a buzz, and he didn't quite trust any promises of safety Scialto made. He wanted his wits somewhat about him, few as he considered them to be. "So... two more rounds, and then the finals."

"Enzan's tough. Watch yourself," cautioned Black.

"You know I always do," said Atsuki with an almost predatory grin. "I'm looking forward to this."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Late that night, Kaita awoke craving sugar, caffeine, and carbonation, served in liquid form. He hadn't managed to locate the kitchen the day before, and maybe he'd find something else neat on the way! "Turboman?"

"Yeah?"

"He said everything here was free, right?" Kaita had already grabbed his sneakers.

"So?"

"So let's go down and get a Coke!"

"Wait... you mean, from the kitchen?"

"Yeah!"

Turboman was just as excited about getting in some further exploration of the Castillo as his Operator was. Still, he was the boy's Navi, so he felt the need to be a half-hearted voice of reason. "We don't even know where the kitchen _is_. Kaita-kun, are you sure about this?"

"Who's going to be out so late to see us, anyway?" asked Kaita with a grin.

"Other people who want Cokes," Turboman returned dryly.

"Yeah, well, who'd really want a Coke at this hour? Besides me," Kaita said, opening the door. Boy and Navi checked to be sure the coast was clear, then left the safety of their room for the open hallway.

"We're probably not supposed to be out of our rooms," Turboman hissed.

"Shh," was Kaita's only reply as they crept down the hall, the soft clanks of Turboman's boots nearly drowning out the quieter patter of Kaita's sneakers against the wood. They grew faster and louder as their confidence grew. Surely, there wouldn't be anyone out to get them at one in the morning...

"It really is you, isn't it?" Both of them froze at the sound of the new voice. It was fortunate; if they'd gone a few feet further and turned the corner, they would have been right on top of the other person. Concerned, the speaker asked, "Where have you been?"

"Dang it," Kaita whispered.

Turboman wasn't paying much attention to his Operator, fixated on the conversation around the corner. He whispered, "It sounds like Enzan-san."

Enzan continued, "Don't give me that look. You've never been good at maintaining a consistent lie. Your act's full of holes, even now." Silence was the only response he got; it evidently didn't please him, because he sounded much more stern as he continued, "Stop pretending and _answer me. What happened?_" His voice didn't get any louder, but there was a new edge to it. Kaita and Turboman both felt like running for it, but something-curiosity, perhaps-made them come closer, where they could see the edges of a black jacket, brown, shaggy hair, and gray pants...

"I told you, I don't know!" Even Kaita and Turboman didn't buy it. Black was too nervous and his words too quick to pull off his lie. "Shut up and leave me alone!" His backside moved in and out of the boy and his Navi's sight lines. He seemed to be struggling, trying to run away. But Turboman knew that Black was too small and skinny to put up much of a fight against Enzan, and he was proven right. There was a soft thump as the Net Savior lightly but firmly pinned Black against the wall by his wrists. Both of them were in sight now; Enzan seemed determined, but that wasn't the odd thing. Black looked terrified, his eye wide, his breathing shallow and incredibly loud in the quiet hallway.

"I can't do that, and you know it." Enzan's voice didn't waver in its force in the slightest; Kaita and Turboman, meanwhile, had to hold back gasps as he asked, "Why didn't you just come to me or one of the others?"

At first, it looked like Enzan had said the wrong thing. Black's confidence seemed back in full force, but his voice cracked as he laughed, "Grabbing at straws. That's all this is. By the way, I had no damn clue who you or your buddies were before I arrived in this country-you just proved you don't know _shit_ about me. Piss off."

"Trying to make me go away with profanity and more unconvincing lies. Haven't you grown out of that yet?" Black growled, his struggles futile in his enemy's grip. Enzan leaned in closer, his voice losing volume but gaining menace. "If you want to keep going this way, I won't stop you for now. But rest assured, if you haven't changed your tune when the time comes, I will personally delete that Navi of yours and make sure you pay for your crimes."

The life seemed to have gone out of Black's face; he looked ashen and emotionless. They stayed like that for the longest time, the two near the wall and Kaita and Turboman dumbstruck-and in plain sight, had either of the older two looked. Then, suddenly, Enzan relinquished his hold on Black, though the hacker didn't move. With almost none of the previous edge, Enzan said, "Got it?" To an unseen party, he said, "Blues, check the other corridor. I don't want that replacement of his coming up behind me."

There was a long silence, broken by metallic footsteps-a Navi's footsteps. Kaita's breath caught in his throat-he and Turboman both knew what was coming next. Both of them ran for the door, Turboman trying to keep his steps light but still cringing at each soft clack. Behind them, Black sounded drained as he weakly said, "Just don't... please don't tell-"

Turboman pulled the door swiftly and quietly closed after them, cutting off the sound. The pair slumped to the ground, breathing hard, the things Enzan had said whirling through their heads. "He's with the bad guys," Kaita said. "He's got his own evil team, and Black said he'd be on it, but he went to Nova instead. How else does he know Black?"

"But Enzan wouldn't do that," Turboman insisted. "He's a Net Savior! He works with Meiru-san. Wouldn't she notice if something was off?"

"We'll ask her," Kaita decided. "But we can't here. Enzan might murder us in our sleep. That's what stealthy bad guys like him would do."

"Kaita-kun..."

"He would."

"He _wouldn't!_" Turboman added, "Besides, I don't sleep."

"Oh, yeah. Good point." Kaita lay down in his bed again, though his mind was far from settled. "They know each other, but they hate each other..." His thoughts took a while to congeal into, "Maybe Enzan was a spy or something." His focus was starting to slip, and most of his energy with it.

"That makes more sense." Turboman plopped himself down into the chair near the window. The late hour was starting to catch up with Kaita. Any sensical thoughts he'd had before were getting lost as his mind grew foggier. "But right now, there's no way we'll do well tomorrow if you don't sleep, so focus on that for now!"

"But Black..." The name was nearly lost in a yawn. "Okay, okay. 'Night."


	23. I Feel Like Everything's Different Now

**A/N**: You actually took that twist better than I thought you would, MI3! XD Posting it, I was like, "Uh-oh... she's a fan of Enzan, how well are the next few chapters going to go over..." Yeah, Kaita has no clue what's actually going on, but as to whether he's on track with any of his current ideas or not... well, we'll see, won't we?

* * *

"Kaita..."

Kaita squirmed, wanting to sleep longer. When he realized that it was Enzan's voice calling him, he snapped awake, sitting up in bed and fumbling for the light switch.

"Kiddo!"

Black was with him. Kaita had been right about Enzan after all. He flicked the switch, but nothing happened. Things were shuffling and thumping against the walls outside, and for a moment he considered just burying himself in the sheets and pretending to be another rumple in the bedspread. But if it was Black and Enzan, they would definitely know that all the rooms were occupied. They'd just search until they found him. Kaita would be able to defend himself better if the lights were on and he had something to swing around.

"Oh, car-boy..."

Even though the lights finally clicked on, they only managed a soft, dim glow. Huge shadows draped over most of the floor. There was a cracking sound, and Kaita instinctively ducked under the covers-they were tearing the roof off! He winced at the ear-shattering sound of stone against stone as it was finally dragged away. The bed sagged next to him as a stone fell on it.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha..." Kaita looked up and quickly backed against the headboard-he hadn't felt a thing, but the sheets had been flung aside and Black and Punk were standing above him!

"You were snooping," laughed Black. "You know what we do to little sneaks like you..." Punk's eyes gleamed maliciously in the light.

Kaita wished he could just disappear into the bed. Two huge hands had come down to grip either side of his room. A massive face was looking into the room. He remembered where he'd seen the spikes arcing back from either side of the helmet-the giant Navi in the basement! "That's right. We've taken control of the Castillo," Enzan smugly informed Kaita from his perch on the monstrous Navi's shoulder. "Its resources should prove useful in forwarding the progress of Nova. Too bad you won't be around to see it..."

"...right ahead." Kaita tore his eyes off his impending doom for a moment to look around-Turboman wasn't around anywhere, but he'd just heard the Navi's voice. Where was he?

"Kaita-kun..." That was Mary. What was she even doing here?

"You're finished!" crowed Black. The giant Navi reared back. It was amazing that Enzan could stay on it-he obviously had good balance.

"Kaita, you're gonna miss your ma-atch..."

"No!" Kaita sat up, his heart pounding. When he turned on the lights, their light was far brighter than in his dream. Mary, Ring, and Turboman were standing around his bed instead of Black and Punk. The roof was in one piece, and Enzan-or his massive ride-was nowhere to be seen.

Ring giggled, "Yes! Well, actually, you're not until the end of the day. But still, you'd miss breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day!"

"Mm-hm! And besides, sitting around watching you sleep is way more boring than watching Netbattles," Turboman said. "And there aren't many left!"

"Okay, I'm getting up... Get out of the room, okay? I'm going to change!"

After Kaita had gotten dressed, he walked into the suite's living room, where Turboman, Ring, and Mary were sitting on the sofa. The Navis were laughing, and Mary was trying not to.

"Oh, yeah. All the time," Turboman said. "This one time, he-" The three noticed Kaita and fell silent.

Before he could start to really get angry, Mary changed the subject. "It really surprised me how fast the tournament seems to be going by," she said while Turboman got the door. They headed down the hallway and turned the corner. In this more hotel-like section of the Castillo, the walls were more typical of those found in a house or other ordinary building; the paint wasn't even chipped where Enzan had shoved Black into the wall. Kaita was beginning to wonder if the confrontation was just another part of his dream. He ran a hand against the wall, feeling for some kind of dent.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked.

"Stop that! They could be right behind us!" Turboman hissed, yanking his Operator's hand down.

The girls were clueless. "Weirdos," Ring said. "Anyway, Kaita, you'll be surprised when you look at the bracket-it seemed like there were so many people when we started, but now..."

"Yep, just eight people," Turboman said. "Four Netbattles today, three tomorrow, then it's all over."

"Wow," Kaita said. He knew he should be more surprised, but his mind wasn't on the tournament now; they'd reached the dining room. Dingo waved to him, but he was the only one sitting there that Kaita knew. He waved back, trying to hide his disappointment. It would be much harder to ask Meiru about Enzan during the day, when the two would almost certainly be together. He, Mary, and their Navis grabbed seats next to the Ameroupian Netbattlers. As before, the table was loaded with food. Kaita was quick to grab a plate and fill it with eggs and pancakes.

"Mary-chan!" Kalama ran over to them as Kaita was pouring the syrup. "You must've been here early."

"No, we just got here," Mary said. Kaita was clueless. She explained, "I'm Netbattling first today."

"Against Meiru-chan, too!" Dingo said. "That'll be tough." Kaita was shocked. He'd known that not many people had made it to this point, but to be fighting against some of the best Netbattlers there already...

"So what?" Ring said, "That's no reason to just throw in the towel!"

Mary nodded and said, "Yeah. As long as we do our best, it isn't a waste of our time." She looked over at Kaita and giggled. "You look so surprised, Kaita-kun."

"Yeah, I guess I am," he said. "I didn't think it'd be so hard all of a sudden."

"Well, there were only sixteen people to begin with," Dingo pointed out. "What do you expect?"

"I guess you're right," Kaita said. He took a bite of pancake and wished he hadn't put so much syrup on them; the pancake was soaked through. Now, he was getting nervous again. He was afraid to ask who he was up against; he figured it was better to save that for after breakfast.

"I wish there were TVs here," Kalama said. "Last night, there was almost nothing to do..." Kaita only had half an ear for this conversation. He stole a less soaked pancake from the center of the table, then mostly focused on eating so that he wouldn't be the last person left at the table and late to the first Netbattle.

When he was done, he was quick to run to the hall that led to the stands in one direction and the battlefield in the other. At dead center was the bracket. "Turboman versus Knightman," he read. He wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or more nervous-he had no idea which Navi Knightman was. When he looked at who Knightman had won against, he saw that his last match had been against Arrow. Kaita had a vague memory of a large, strong Navi; he would have to see if there was one in the stands that would ring a bell.

"So, who're you Netbattling?" Dingo asked from behind Kaita.

"It doesn't matter," he said quickly. "Let's get up to the stands so we can cheer Mary-chan on!" Dingo and Kalama were glad to take him up on that idea. While they climbed the stairs, they didn't run into anyone else in the stairwell; however, Kaita did see who he was looking for in the stands. The hulking, blue-gray Navi that had beaten Arrow stood at the far end of the highest row, next to Enzan and his blonde friend. His armor looked as strong as the mace attached to his arm looked menacing. Kaita had a feeling his Netbattle was going to be tough.

"I wonder if she's his evil girlfriend," Turboman said.

"Not so loud!" Kaita tugged his Navi down into a seat next to Dingo and Tomahawkman. Down below, both Operators were walking to their places.

While Meiru reached her spot and Roll ran to stand in front, Mary and Ring's eyes met. The Navi gave her Operator a smile and a nod, then turned to face Roll. Mary said, "Um, Meiru-san..."

"Yes?" she asked.

"Don't hold back against me," Mary said. Kaita was surprised. He would've been worried even if Meiru gave him a head start.

"Yeah," Ring said. "We want this Netbattle to mean something!"

Whatever surprise Meiru had before was replaced by a warm smile. "I understand," she said. To her Navi, she said, "Let's go, Roll!"

The traditional, _"Let the match begin!"_ had barely been said, when Roll vanished in an Area Steal. Ring's pigtails flew around as she looked around frantically. She looked up, but Roll was just out of her sight, leveling a Wide Shot at her head. The pink-clad Navi wasted no time firing, sending Ring face-first into the ground.

As Ring struggled to her feet, Meiru called, "Meteor, slot-in!"

"Man, the Technos are gonna love her for that," Black said as Roll directed the Meteors down. Kaita looked down to see a familiar head of brown hair a few seats away in the first row. Atsuki's blue, flame-like spikes and Punk's mohawk poked up on either side of the hacker. Deep thuds drew Kaita's attention back to the Netbattle. The battlefield was scored with craters, some with fires sputtering inside them.

Kaita wasn't sure why none of the Meteors had gone near Ring. The Navi girl seemed to be just as clueless, but her separating pigtails were proof she wasn't about to dwell on it. "Ring Boomerang!"

Roll leapt away from the swarm of rings. As they circled around, Meiru called, "Barrier!" Roll whirled around and raised her arm. The rings whizzed into the clear shield, forced to a halt for a moment before dropping to the ground. Ring glanced down at her fallen pigtails and moved toward them. But Roll started running toward the other Navi, forcing her to stop.

Kaita thought it was odd that Meiru wasn't sending any Battlechips. Enzan and the evil girlfriend weren't saying anything, and he didn't want to ask them. He sighed, turning back to the match. He had no idea what was going on. "Long Sword, slot-in!" Mary called, looking just as puzzled below.

"You'll be sorry you underestimated me!" With that, Ring raised her sword and charged. Roll immediately ran to the left, toward the cluster of holes she'd made with the Meteor chip. The gap between the two Navis had grown shorter-Roll hadn't been running at top speed, but why?

"Let's see how you handle this," Meiru said, almost to herself. She slotted a chip in as Roll leapt over the nearest hole. Ring pounced after her, sword poised to leave a huge cut down Roll's chest...

"Come on, Snake!" The effect of Roll's chip was immediate. One moment Ring was in the air above the crater's center, the next there was nothing there but a massive swarm of purple snakes. Their pale yellow underbellies stood out even more in such a huge number, wriggling over their fellows. And somewhere under them was Ring. Kaita shivered.

"Should've waited longer," Black said, jolting Kaita's attention away from the scene. The older Netbattler was shaking his head.

Atsuki countered, "Towa's Navi can't get to her basic attack with the field the way it is. Moving now had its advantages."

"Sure, but she missed out on her flashy finisher," Black said. Down below, more snakes from the other holes were piling on top of the ones already there. "She loves her flashy finishers." Now Kaita understood-that opening move had been about setting up for this attack. The Meteors had all fallen close to each other, so new snakes were piling on as quickly as the first ones vanished. Not a scrap of bright yellow could be seen.

Kaita bit his lip. It didn't look good for Mary and Ring. Suddenly, a massive pillar of water exploded from under the mob. Snakes were being deleted left and right as they went sailing across the battlefield and smacking against the walls. Before Kaita could figure out where Ring had gone, the Aqua Tower collapsed into a tsunami. Roll only had a chance to shriek before she was caught under the wave. Everything but the two challenger domes was soaked. As the water fell away, Kaita finally caught sight of Ring, her Elec Sword planted into the ground to keep her from getting just as washed away as her target. Roll had been swept to the far wall. Sparks were jumping off her body; Kaita realized that Ring's Elec Sword had electrified the water when she cut into the Aqua Tower.

"She must've ridden it nearly to the top to get a shot like that," Turboman said. "She's really floored it for this one!"

Meiru grinned. "Very good! You'll go far with an instinct like that." She drew out a Battlechip. "Aqua Sword!"

Now, it was Ring's turn to grin. "Elec beats Aqua!" she said, bringing her sword down. Roll ducked to the side of the blow as the Aqua Sword formed on her arm.

"Who said our swords had to meet?" Roll countered. She dashed past the other Navi, creating a small wave of her own with one swipe of her sword. Ring held her ground, hand and sword drawn in front of her.

As Roll turned, Meiru called, "Cyclone, slot-in!" With another spin, her Navi activated the chip, getting swallowed up in a tornado of wind. Bursts of water came flying out of the Cyclone from all directions; one sent Ring flying, one struck her before she hit the ground, and she logged out.

"Ring-chan!" Mary looked down at her PET as Meiru and Roll ran over to the other side. "Are you all right?"

"Let me see..." Meiru pressed a few buttons on the side of Mary's PET when it was offered to her, and she said, "Don't worry, Ring's going to be okay. A little rest and recharge is all she needs."

Mary nodded as her PET was returned to her. "We'll both become even better," she told Meiru. "And then, we'll challenge you to another Netbattle!" She extended her hand to shake, and Meiru took it.

"That day might come sooner than you think," the Net Savior said. "And I'll be looking forward to it!"


	24. I Can't Tell What He's Thinking

There was a lull in action while Meiru and Roll returned to their seats in the stands. "Black and Punk are Netbattling next," Turboman recalled.

"Against Dingo-san and Tomahawkman," finished Mary. "That must be tough for them..."

"Even if it is tough, I hope Dingo-san wins," Turboman said.

Kaita said, "Me, too," though he wasn't very hopeful. Black and Punk were good, really good, and he wasn't sure if Dingo and his Navi could compete.

The match opened in the usual way, and Dingo yelled, "Go! Tomahawkman!" The teal Navi ran toward Punk, trademark weapon in his outstretched arm.

"Let's waste this loser, Punk," Black said. He looked darkly at his opponents as he sent in, "Battlechip: Flame Tower." The huge, red-hot pillar was lethal to the Wood-element Navi. Tomahawkman's eyes widened as he skidded to a halt.

"Area Steal!" Tomahawkman disappeared, reappearing in the air to the Flame Tower's side.

"Tomahawk Rolling!" He curled into a ball, a red aura appearing around him as he barreled toward Punk.

"Cute." Punk sent his shoulder plates toward Tomahawkman with a shout of, "Double-Go-Round!" The two projectiles' force slowed, but didn't stop, the Navi's attack. That was still enough for Punk. "Mad Roller!" He zipped away in the nick of time, leaving Tomahawkman to send clods of dirt flying as he smashed into the ground. Groaning, the teal-clad Navi climbed out of the crater he'd made.

"Yikes!" Punk was coming back in from the side, far enough away from the hole to not lose his balance, but just right to score a solid hit. Tomahawkman jumped over the spiky ball zipping toward him, then did a flip in mid-air to land on his feet. "Phew," he sighed.

Dingo seized the opportunity to attack. "Fumikomi Cross, slot-in!" Tomahawkman didn't activate the chip right away, instead concentrating on dodging another pass of Punk's Mad Roller. As soon as the rust-red Navi had popped out of his ball, though, the tanned Navi pushed off the ground and vanished, reappearing in front of Punk.

"Fumikomi Cross!" The blades cut deep into Punk's body. He soundlessly fell to the ground with four deep cuts in his torso and didn't move. Tomahawkman grinned-then cried out as a spiked shoulder plate caught him in the back. Punk landed with a thud and let the discus snap back onto his shoulder. As he got to his feet, Tomahawkman looked over at where Punk was supposed to be lying on the ground and saw a badly mangled Kawarimi doll. While he was distracted, his opponent fired a Mega Cannon, sending him flying. When he recovered, Punk was running toward him.

As the gap between them grew shorter and shorter, Tomahawkman yelled, "You're not getting any closer! Tomahawk Swing!" He sent four shockwaves at Punk, one after another. The rust-red Navi sidestepped smoothly, almost gracefully.

"Stop fooling around." To add to his attacks' power, Tomahawkman had taken a step forward with every slice. Punk had anticipated that, letting his cable arm grow longer as he stepped back. Tomahawkman's foot was inches away from the cylindrical mace when he'd finished, making it easy for Punk to wrap his enemy's legs together before the other Navi knew what had happened. Tomahawkman was sent crashing to the ground. "You're boring me."

"And me," seconded Black. "Neo Variable, slot-in." Punk didn't bother to grace his opponent with the attack name, sending a pair of Sonic Booms straight into Tomahawkman's chest with little more than two grunts.

Kaita could understand Dingo's evident frustration as he yelled, "Woody Tower, slot-in!" Punk was forced to abandon his prey and dodge the pillars that rippled out from where Tomahawkman fell. But the teal-clad Navi's chest armor was cracked; Punk hadn't missed Tomahawkman's Navi symbol with either of his Sonic Booms, and it was doubtful he would survive another direct hit. "Cannon, double slot-in!"

Punk looked back at Black as the two green turrets materialized to flank Tomahawkman. The hand resting at Black's side pointed three fingers at the ground. Punk turned around and _sprang_. The energy bullets completely missed, and Tomahawkman's desperate axe chop was just as easily ducked as it was before. Punk slammed his elbow under Tomahawkman's chin, forcing his head up and back. That left him wide open to the punch Punk delivered next with enough force to send him sideways. The rust-red Navi followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent Tomahawkman skidding until his head feathers were pressed out of shape by the wall. Punk walked over to where his opponent lay in a crumpled heap.

"Sword, slot-in," Black said, not even bothering to grace his opponents with some enthusiasm. Punk snared Tomahawkman around the neck with his cable arm and lifted the smaller Navi off the ground, his chest symbol undefended. But when he tried to deliver the winning slash, Tomahawkman twisted away, leaving a cut down his side but his Navi symbol intact.

"You just don't know when to give up, do ya?" Punk slammed Tomahawkman into the wall.

"Shut up!" Dingo called, "Salamander, slot-in!"

That got Punk to drop Tomahawkman in a hurry. "Keep the sword, Punk," Black said, unimpressed by the flame dragon materializing to protect his opponent. "I'll tell you when."

"Just a sword?" Dingo asked as Tomahawkman's dragon bore down on Punk. "It doesn't matter how good you are, you can't possibly-"

"Now." Punk cleaved through the dragon's mouth, the flames pouring away and dispersing to either side of him as he smashed his mace into Tomahawkman's Navi symbol. The rust-red Navi's cable shot upward as his enemy vanished from above it.

Mary sighed. "That didn't last long..." She looked down. The Technos were already swarming over the field, trying to fill the hole back in before the next match. Dingo was talking to his Navi, now confined in the PET again. Black and Punk were gone already.

"I hope he goes up against Meiru-san soon. That'll show him!" Kaita said.

"Yeah! It doesn't matter how good Black is, Meiru-san'll find a way to beat him," Mary agreed. "But I guess that won't happen for a while. They were in different halves of the bracket, after all."

"So we could be waiting until the finals for him to lose?" groaned Turboman. "Great..."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Clara had adjusted the microphones to pick up the conversation below. "Why _are_ we waiting so long to see him lose?" she asked her brother. "I know you want to see him fight Enzan, but why couldn't that have just happened now?"

"I know Black, and I know Enzan. Just as I thought, they've cleaned up shop against these weaker contestants, which is always fun to watch." Clara winced. She and her brother definitely had different tastes on that matter. "And Roll... she's a bit of a wild card. She and her Operator seem to have become much stronger since she was in the N1. She hasn't gone to the arcade in a long time, though, which is really annoying!" He crossed his arms.

"So you tried to give her all the good ones," Clara realized.

"Mm-hm. And it's the _semi_finals where Enzan'll lose. I'm giving Meiru and Roll-or whoever beats them-a shot at winning it. It'd be sort of predictable otherwise," Alexander corrected her.

Pirou crossed her arms, frowning. Clara said, "I still don't think Enzan's going to lose. He's got years of experience, and Black just showed up out of nowhere. It doesn't matter how crafty Black is or how strong Punk is, Enzan can and will deal with them."

"You haven't even grasped what all Black can do, have you?" Alexander asked. He brought up a window showing a generic Navi hurtling toward a well-customized one with a Salamander. "A man who can go to town on Custom Navis with a generic model has plenty of knowledge of how to support a Navi with Battlechips. And Punk clearly knows the ropes well enough to compliment that knowledge. With a Navi and Operator that good, they take each other to new levels. If Black has his act together-and he always does-he's the most dangerous of all our contestants." He looked over at the schedule posted on one of the stone walls. "Though I must say, Atsuki has his own dangers..."


	25. I Don't Know You

**A/N:** It's okay! It's been a pretty busy holiday for me, too, so I totally understand there being no time to review.

(Poor Dingo, having to go up against Black in that sort of mood. I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that one might make a bit more sense in hindsight...) Yes, the slow pace is totally a feature! It's not because between my inexperience when I was writing this and Kaita's current inexperience, things just wound up going really slowly at first. It's hard for Kaita to find things out right now, he's just a kid and everyone else important is way more experienced or has_ agendas_. Or both at the same time. XD The overarching plot is going to be taking precedence in the stories after GC, so don't worry, you'll piece together what's going on somewhere down the line.

* * *

As the Technos finished repairing the battlefield, Kaita asked, "So, who's supposed to be next?"

"I don't know," Mary said. She looked over at who was coming in and said, "Well, here comes bad news." Atsuki strode in, smiling as usual. Behind him was Burnerman, who wore a much nastier grin.

Mindful of Meiru and Roll walking across the row behind him, Kaita was careful to think instead of speak 'And here comes worse' as Enzan and Blues came out through the other doorway.

"Thank goodness, it's that guy," Kalama said, indicating Enzan. Kaita was a little confused at her excitement for a moment. Then he remembered that not everyone had been wandering around so late at night to see what he had. "He'll show Burnerman how to really Netbattle!"

Kaita's suspicions weren't helped by the first words out of Burnerman's mouth. "I remember you," the Navi said, smirking. "You don't look like you've changed at all! I doubt you'll be a challenge now."

"You'll see how much I've improved soon enough." Blues was on guard, but didn't make any movements.

"He must be waiting," Kaita said. "Letting Burnerman move first..."

"So Burnerman can slip up first," Dingo finished. "Just you watch!"

The two Navis watched each other for a moment longer. Finally, Atsuki sent in a Battlechip, sending Burnerman shooting forward in an Area Steal. "Burnerman, Burning Sword!" Immediately, Blues' default sword met it. The two were struggling to overpower each other.

"Samurai Sword, slot-in!" A second sword appeared on Blues' other arm. Burnerman's grin didn't falter, even as the Samurai Sword whistled forward.

"Gold Fist!" A well-placed right hook broke both swords and continued on, clipping Blues as he tried to dodge and knocking him to the floor. The silver-haired Navi rolled to the side to escape a jet of flame from Burnerman's buster, then another two in quick succession. "Hmph. Think you're fast, huh?" said Burnerman as Blues flipped backward to a crouch and jumped away.

Atsuki smiled. "Air Hockey, slot-in!"

"Well, try this!" yelled Burnerman, hurling the oversized hockey puck straight where Blues was about to land.

"Area Steal!" Blues rocketed forward. At the same time, the exhaust pipes on Burnerman's back ignited. Seeing this, Enzan slotted-in another Battlechip. "Z-Saber!"

"Drill Arm!" Burnerman shoved it straight at the incoming Navi, who had reappeared carrying a green beam sword. "Another sword?" laughed Burnerman as Blues twisted to the side, turning the attack from a devastating blow to the side into a small scrape against his helmet. "That doesn't work against me!"

"We'll see about that." As Burnerman sped away, Blues whirled around and hurled the Z-Saber straight at his opponent, who didn't see it coming. Burnerman yelled in pain as the Z-Saber stabbed him in the back, turning his controlled Burning Jet into a long skid against the dirt.

"Aqua Sword, slot-in!" called Enzan, as his Navi changed direction. Blue blade on his arm, Blues charged forward to meet Burnerman, who was struggling to his feet. With one swipe, Burnerman was sent flying under a wave of water. Kaita almost thought it was over after the wave had cleared away. Burnerman was lying on his side, the blue flames on his head extinguished and the Z-Saber still sticking out of his back.

"Iron Ball, slot-in," Atsuki said icily. Blues dashed out of the huge metal ball's way while Burnerman got to his hands and knees, ripping the Z-Saber out with a growl of fury. Neither in its master's hand, nor embedded in his enemy's back, the Z-Saber vanished, leaving behind a large cut that leaked blue pixels. "Drill Arm, double slot-in!"

With his hands both replaced by spinning drills, Burnerman's grin was huge. He ran forward for a few steps, then leapt into the air. "Don't run away, now! Burning Jet!" In moments, Burnerman had boxed Blues in with a wall of flame.

Kaita couldn't help wondering if Burnerman had the other Navi beaten, remembering how defenseless Pele had been. But Enzan didn't seem worried at all. "Neo Variable, slot-in!" he called.

The sword formed on Blues' arm, and he raised it to a defensive position. Burnerman sped past one, two, three times without Blues making a move. "He can't hit him, can he?" Kaita wondered. "Burnerman just keeps getting faster and faster, so-"

"Sonic Boom!" Blues turned and lashed out with his sword, creating a wave of energy that hit Burnerman square in the chest. He sent out another, but the larger Navi vanished in an Area Steal, leaving the energy wave to fly through empty air to rattle the side of the Castillo.

Burnerman reappeared in midair, directly above Blues. "_Burn!_" He slowed his fall by sending streams of blue-hot flame roaring toward the ground and the Navi below him. Blues flung himself out of the way, but the attack was massive. The blue-hot pillars coming from Burnerman billowed out into red flame as they hit the ground. It was lucky the two Dream Auras containing the Operators were holding fast; everywhere, the grass was on fire. In the midst of it all, Blues turned his fall into a roll, coming to a stop on his feet. He jumped up and away, plenty singed, but hardly shaken, forming his red default sword on one arm.

As his Navi reached the apex of his jump, a few feet away from the top of the Castillo, Enzan sent in another Battlechip: "Wide Blade, slot-in!" Blues drew both swords back as he started to fall, then whipped them around, the force taking his body along as well. In seconds, all Kaita could see was a blur, and then a column of red, like a tornado blowing out the flames around it as it moved across the battlefield.

"Hm." Atsuki regarded the pillar for a second, then made his move. "Vulcan, slot-in." Burnerman had been backing away from the tornado, his grin starting to falter as he neared the wall, but now it was back in full force as the yellow base and silver barrels of the Vulcan Battlechip replaced his right arm. Enzan's eyes narrowed for a moment, but he didn't seem too worried; he took out a Battlechip and waited. Burnerman's Vulcan plowed through the tornado, breaking it up and leaving Blues behind. The white-haired Navi dropped both swords as he made one more turn to the side, gripping the edge of the outer wall as Kaita realized that it had been the target all along. But with the Vulcan still firing, how long did Blues have before he fell? As the white-haired Navi swung himself up and over, Burnerman abruptly stopped firing; an Earthquake had appeared over his head, and it nearly crushed his foot as he flung himself out of the way. Once he was safe, his arm cannons formed, and he wasted no time shooting flames up at the Navi on the roof. But it was no use; the wall was blocking off most of the attack, and Blues was easily evading whatever made it to him. It was clear that Burnerman was wasting his time on the ground.

"After him," commanded Atsuki. Burnerman leapt into the air, activating his thrusters and both arm cannons to push him higher up.

One look at Enzan's face was enough to tell Kaita that this was all according to plan. "Program Advance! Fumikomizan, triple slot-in!"

"Zeta Fumikomi!" Blues was suddenly gone from the roof. It was almost like there were three Blueses at once, he moved so fast. Burnerman was sent flying backward into the Castillo wall sporting three new cuts across the red armor on his upper body, while Blues landed just above him atop the same wall. With one last howl of pain, Burnerman logged out.

Atsuki's voice betrayed nothing as he said, "Very well." But his smile seemed forced. Flickers of that same madness that made Burnerman's grins so intimidating were sparking in his eyes before being hidden away. Enzan didn't seem to notice; he was sending Blues a Bubble Shot to remove the last of the fire from the field so the Navi could safely get off the roof and the Operators could leave the Dream Auras. It made Kaita wonder just what Enzan's relationship to Nova was. To him, it was obvious they were connected if Burnerman remembered Blues and Enzan could have such a strange meeting with Black, but neither of the out-and-out Novas nor their Navis seemed to like the-were they really Net Saviors? Or were they double agents? And if so, for whom? It was all so confusing.

"Kaita! Hurry and get down there, or you'll miss your Netbattle!" Ring said.

"Right!" Kaita said, glad to not have to think about it anymore. "Let's go, Turboman!"


	26. I'm Sorry

Kaita ran downstairs, hoping he wouldn't run into Atsuki. The blue-haired man was creepy enough in a good mood, and he hadn't looked too happy after Enzan had beaten him. Just remembering Kalama's story was enough to make him grateful to reach the doorway to the battlefield without seeing a single wisp of blue hair. "You ready, Turboman?" he asked eagerly.

"When wouldn't I be, Kaita-kun?" asked Turboman. His free hand paused over Kaita's head for a moment; the boy blinked at it before it came down to ruffle his hair.

"Aaaah!" Kaita's surprise turned into laughter. "I guess we'd better get out there," he said, adjusting his bandanna.

"Yeah, you don't want to be late again," Turboman teased.

"Hey, that was both of us!" Kaita was glad to see that he was the first one to the battlefield for a change. Now, he just had to wait and wonder who would come through the other entrance.

Though he couldn't think of anyone else left to be Knightman's Operator, Kaita was still a little surprised to see Enzan's evil girlfriend walk in. The bulky Navi in the bluish-gray armor who stomped in after her was less of a surprise. "Good luck, Knightman!" the evil girlfriend called to her Navi.

"Thank you, Pride-sama," rumbled Knightman.

Next, Pride's attention turned to her opponents; Turboman in particular. She smiled, her blue eyes filled with mirth. Kaita found himself thinking that she was awfully pretty for an evil girlfriend and tried to stop. "He looks like a reliable Navi," she said cheerfully. Turboman rubbed the back of his head. Kaita was sure he was blushing. "I'm sure you'll give me an excellent match!"

Before Kaita could do much more than be surprised at how nice Pride was being, the announcer said, _"Let the match begin!"_ Knightman raised his hand, and Turboman dashed to the side as the bulky Navi's mace shot forward with surprising speed.

"Turbo Wheel!" Kaita was sure Knightman couldn't possibly dodge Turboman's attack, and he was right. But Knightman didn't seem to notice the attack much, either. The two tires didn't so much as shake their target when they rammed into his side. Knightman swept them away with his mace, sending them through the air to pixelate and vanish.

"That's not good..." Kaita said nervously as Knightman swung his mace at Turboman again.

The red Navi zipped out of the way, leaving the spiky ball to lodge itself in the wall. "No kidding!"

"Vulcan, slot-in!" Pride called. While her Navi wrenched his mace free, his other arm changed into a yellow-barreled gun with silver cylinders, which immediately began to rotate and spit out a steady stream of bullets. Turboman dodged as quickly as ever, and it wasn't until the blonde Operator called, "Battlechip: Earthquake!" that Kaita realized what her plan had been.

"Area Steal, slot-in!" Turboman vanished from sight moments before the silver-plated virus overhead slammed into the ground. "Battlechip: Magma Cannon! Slot-in!" Turboman wasted no time firing at Knightman, and his opponent did likewise with his ball and chain. Though the bulky Navi still grunted when drops of magma spattered on his armor, most of it flew onto the walls and grass, deflected by the brown, spiked ball.

Pride's smile, though determined, was just as good-spirited as it'd been before. "It's my turn now! Ryuuseigun, slot-in!" The sorcerer's wand that appeared in mid-air seemed tiny when Knightman had seized it with his bulky hand.

As the meteors began to rain down on Turboman's end of the battlefield, Kaita got an idea. "Long Sword, slot-in!" Turboman got the gist of it; he charged toward Knightman, bringing the meteor shower with him.

"Battlechip: Mega Cannon! Slot-in!" Knightman's mace hand shifted into the Mega Cannon. He pushed Turboman back by nailing him with the red cannon's fire. Meteors came dangerously close as the smaller Navi rolled to a crouch, then jumped to his feet before taking a second leap away from the scene. It didn't give him much relief-as soon as he'd landed, Turboman was diving away from another one of Knightman's attempts to clobber his opponent with his mace.

Kaita muttered, "He can block attacks from far away, and we can't get close up... no, wait!" He got out two chips. To his Navi, he said, "If we can't beat him this way, let's give him a taste of his own medicine!" Turboman nodded before Kaita sent in an Area Steal, teleporting the Navi away while his Operator put in the second chip.

Turboman came shrieking down with a yell of, "Break Hammer!" Knightman looked up in time to catch the teal blue hammer on his head. Kaita and Turboman's momentary triumph faded when they realized that Knightman wasn't even stunned by the blow. Instead, the huge Navi had raised his mace hand. The spiky ball went flying to the side with Turboman stuck to it.

Kaita was drawing a blank on what to do next. "We've gotta do something big," he said. "Maybe..." He got out three chips.

"I'm ready when you are," Turboman said, getting back to his feet.

"Cannon! Triple-"

The first Cannon appeared on Turboman's right arm, but Knightman was sending his mace back out at the red Navi.

As Turboman leapt away, Kaita continued, "-slot-"

Turboman's eyes narrowed in concentration as the second Cannon appeared on his left arm. At the same time, he hit the ground after the jump that had taken him away from the mace. Knightman was already turning to keep up the assault. Kaita wasn't sure what to do; it would be hard for Turboman to focus with Knightman distracting him. Still, if they didn't pull this off, he and Turboman were toast. There seemed to be a rhythm to the Program Advance, and waiting on Knightman to stop attacking would almost certainly throw it off.

"-in!"

The two Cannons glowed blue-white as Turboman raised his arms to connect them into the larger Giga Cannon. Kaita knew Knightman wasn't fast enough to dodge it, and the huge Navi's Operator knew it, too. "Stone Body, slot-in!" Turboman fired, but it seemed like he'd barely started before the Giga Cannon dissolved away from his hands.

"What the-" A ball of lightning hit Turboman, freezing him in place; from a Thunder Ball chip, that had to have been snuck in with the Stone Body.

"Finish him, Knightman! Royal-"

"-Wrecking Ball!" Kaita could only watch as Knightman extended his mace and went into a spin, zooming forward toward the black-haired boy's paralyzed Navi. He wished he hadn't used up his Area Steals. He wasn't even sure if it would send to Turboman in this state, but at least it was something.

The sparks coiling around Turboman's body faded just as Knightman loomed over the red Navi, and his legs bent before sending him shooting out of the way. He nearly stumbled as he skidded to a halt; Knightman had clipped him on the leg, leaving behind deep gashes. Kaita needed to keep Knightman and his mace away. "Battlechip: Flame Tower!" Turboman slammed his hand into the ground, sending up a pillar of fire. Knightman took a step backward. It wasn't until his mace was flying over to meet the Flame Tower that Kaita realized the armored Navi had been planting himself. The spiky mace blew apart the Flame Tower as Kaita grabbed a Battlechip.

"Samurai Sword!" Turboman's arm began to shift as Knightman's mace slammed into him. It was with disbelief that Kaita watched Turboman's body morph into the words 'LOG OUT' and vanish from the field.

Kaita looked down at his PET, where Turboman was beginning to reappear in a flurry of blue pixels. He couldn't think of anything to say, but knew he ought to say something. "Turboman..." He realized that he was still standing on the platform. Staying there like an idiot would be more embarrassment on top of his loss in front of Meiru, who would only doubt him even more after this; Mary, who had always believed in him and who had put up a much more impressive fight when she'd lost; and Enzan, Atsuki, and Black, who would just go to town with a new piece of evidence that Kaita was weak. He could picture the two self-identifying Nova members up in the bleachers roaring with laughter.

As he walked through the doorway, Turboman said, "It's not your fault, Kaita-kun."

He only wished he could believe it.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Hey!"

Kaita looked up. Pride was running toward him, Knightman keeping a slower pace behind her. The young woman gave him a friendly smile. She seemed even nicer than she had during the match. As she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, Kaita felt bad for ever thinking she was evil. Enzan had to be lying to her, like he was to Meiru. "For an announcer, he doesn't do a very good job. Never even gives out names... You're Kaita-kun, right?" Now Kaita couldn't help wondering how she knew his name. Had Meiru or Enzan told her to come here? "My friends call me Poipu-chan."

Kaita managed a weak smile in return. "It's nice to meet you, Poipu-chan," he said honestly. Unable to think of anything else to say, he blurted, "I... I'm sorry, I didn't do a good job Operating, did I?"

"You did a great job up until that Program Advance. Same with you, Turboman! You two just need to keep practicing at it; you're not far from mastering it," Pride said. Kaita wasn't convinced. It must have shown on his face, because Pride continued, "If you don't believe me, believe Meiru-chan."

"She really thinks I can do it?" Kaita asked, amazed.

"Yep. Enzan-kun and Dingo-kun do, too-everyone thinks you've got the potential to be a great Netbattler someday!" Kaita was very careful not to make a face at the mention of Enzan's name. Anyone who knew Black was probably just saying that to keep up appearances.

"You really think so?" Turboman asked.

"Of course. And when you two are ready, Knightman and I'll be waiting for a rematch! For now, though, dinner'll have to do."

"I'm not hungry," Kaita said.

"You'll regret turning the Princess's invitation down in a few minutes when your stomach wins over your brain, boy," Knightman boomed.

"Knightman!" scolded Pride. She turned back to Kaita, the hand on his shoulder gently keeping him up with her slow pace. "Mary-chan and the others are waiting. Most of us have almost finished!"

Kaita sighed. Part of him just wanted to be alone, petty as it was to let his friends wonder what was wrong with him. But he knew he ought not to make them worry. Grudgingly, he said, "Okay. I guess I'll eat."

"Good." Pride smiled. "I know losing stinks, but by tomorrow, you'll feel loads better. I promise."

Still a little sad, Kaita nodded. "Yeah..."


	27. I Can't Say We're Safe

**A/N:** Sorry about the late update, just got back to school. It is kind of hard to picture Pride and Enzan actually being a couple, isn't it! You know Kaita doesn't know them at all when... Anyway, enjoy the chapter, late as it is!**  
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* * *

"You can't be serious!" Meiru yanked Enzan's holographic window over to her, reading its report for herself. "They didn't bother to tell anyone else this for how long?!" she asked indignantly. "What were they thinking?!"

"Apparently, they've been having trouble keeping a full staff because of these disappearances," Enzan said. "Not that I think it's any kind of excuse. I was just as mad as you are."

"But nobody said anything officially, so they were only rumors," Roll realized. "And as long as they were just rumors, there would always be people unfamiliar with them to get the work done..."

"Besides that, you have to consider what it means for the other countries with Net Savior forces," Enzan pointed out. "Now that everyone knows it isn't just Net Saviors who disappear from Sharo, staff from other countries will start to worry, too."

Meiru said, "This could still be important. These people could have a connection of some kind, or they all could've seen something that could give us our big break..." She scowled at one of the dates. "This was just a couple of months ago! And now it's too late..." Grudgingly, she conceded, "But I guess I see why they were all hush-hush about it. This could get really bad, really quickly..." She sighed as she looked up from the screen. Rainbow-stained walls met her eyes, just another reminder that they were trapped in the Dimensional Area. "It's been almost two weeks since the tournament started," she said. "Someone else has probably disappeared by now, haven't they?"

"You see why I said this was a bad idea?" Enzan asked.

Meiru felt a little pang of guilt-he was right. This hadn't been a smart move. "They wouldn't have asked for you back in Ameroupe unless they ran out of Net Saviors, anyway. You know how they are over there." Enzan gave her a nod of agreement, but said nothing. She didn't like to think about what 'running out of Net Saviors' would mean for the rest of them, and it was clear he didn't, either.

Roll wondered, "How bad'll it look at the Ministry of Science and Net Police Headquarters if half the custodial staff leaves? I'm not too worried about Kifune-san and Manabe-san, but Meijin and Hikari-hakase really need the help..."

"I'd be more worried about the assistants and interns jumping ship," Meiru said. "Especially considering that over half of the non-Net Savior kidnappings were of scientists." Not a moment later, she exclaimed, "See? This is exactly what I mean! I bet they're all-"

"Technicians on the custodial side, workers for some top-secret project on the scientific side, that's what I thought, too," Enzan said. "But I managed to look up at least a few of them before we left. Unless our culprit's main weakness is the bathroom sink, I don't see any reason to take most of them." He rested his chin on his hands. "More dead ends. More useless investigations. How long can this keep going? What's going to happen when we're all gone?"

Meiru couldn't help but worry; it wasn't like Enzan to give up on a case, even one that looked as bad as this. It was obvious something else was bothering him. "What's happened?"

Enzan straightened. Dismissively, he began, "It's-" Meiru crossed her arms. "-not nothing," he conceded. "But it's still little more than a suspicion. There's no need for you or me to worry until I know something can be done." Reluctantly, Meiru nodded. She knew that right now, whatever else he was thinking about needed to take a backseat, both in his mind and hers, to what they were going to do about the kidnappings.

"What's going to happen..." she murmured to herself. The proverbial light bulb went off. She sat up straighter and said, "That's it! All the Net Saviors in Ameroupe and Sharo have been heavily guarded, right?"

"Right."

"Their movements and locations-that's stuff nobody else would know unless they were with the Net Saviors, or working with the Net Police, or knew those Net Saviors..."

"The inside job theory. Where the last Net Savior is the one who's behind it," Enzan recalled.

"But if they already know-or if it _is _an inside job-why hide them?"

Enzan caught on immediately. "We call a special meeting-every Net Savior in the same building. From there, it's only a matter of time." He noted, "We'll want a building of moderate size-when our enemy strikes, we can't be combing a skyscraper. And at the same time..."

As their plan unfolded further and Meiru began to feel the excitement of knowing just how to solve their problem, Enzan's earlier moment of concern almost completely slipped her mind.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

On the same floor as the challengers' suites were a number of balconies, and Kaita had found one that faced in the direction of the sunset. He didn't want to talk in the hallways, where anyone could find him, but he'd had enough of his room. "I keep failing you," he told Turboman. Now that the Navi was back to being confined in his PET, Kaita missed his presence in the real world. "When Punk attacked us, and now against Knightman. We could've held that Program Advance longer if I'd had better timing. When I saw Knightman's attack coming, I just..." He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "We never lost like this back when we just Netbattled everyone else at school. I hate losing!"

"Kaita." The black-haired Operator looked down at his Navi. "I've been thinking about it, too. It wasn't you, and it wasn't me."

"So it was both of us?" Kaita asked, furious at himself. "We're not good enough?"

"No!" Turboman firmly said, "We'd only used a Program Advance once before that Netbattle. It's like what Poipu-san said: it's just like anything else-if we practice it, we'll be fine. And knowing what chips to use when and all that stuff'll come with experience. We didn't get knocked out in the first round, so we're doing something right, aren't we?"

Kaita nodded. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just being dumb about this."

"Hey, it's okay." Turboman said, "We did our best, and we'll keep getting better."

"Yeah." They watched the sun inch away and the stars grow visible in silence.

"Enzan's not a bad guy, but he's one hell of a Netbattler. Don't go around antagonizing him until you can back it up, kid." Kaita furtively looked around for someone else, preferably with a Navi still in the running, but he, Black, and Punk were alone on the balcony. It was partially his fault. Hadn't he wanted a spot where nobody would come looking for him? "I know you saw that last night. Not my best moment, huh?" Black was back in human mode, if his self-deprecating smile was a good indicator.

"No. It really wasn't." Kaita laughed nervously. He still wasn't sure of how to treat Black when the hacker was in this mood. Punk was as hard to read as ever behind him. "Does he like it when you're like this?"

Black shrugged. "Well, if he didn't, I'm sure he'd tell me-do you like it?" he asked, turning to his Navi.

"It confuses the kid. I like him confused."

Kaita spluttered, "Wh-wha? Hey!"

Punk's eyes narrowed slightly in the expression Kaita had come to know as 'smug'. "I like him stuttering, too."

With a smile, Black explained, "It's a vacation, right, kiddo? You get a break from school, I get to harass you without having to completely shame you every time. Different strokes for different folks." He strode forward and leaned against the railing. "Now, if you try appealing to my nicer side when we're back in Densan," he said with a grin, "I will kick your ass without a second thought."

"That's mean," Kaita muttered. Punk mimicked the boy in the highest-pitched, whiniest tone he could muster, and Kaita felt brave enough to stick his tongue out at the Navi.

"I guess so," Black said distantly.

"So, wait," Kaita said, remembering Enzan's match earlier that day. "If Enzan's really not with you guys, then how come Burnerman seemed so familiar with Blues?" The other question along those lines Kaita wanted to ask would definitely get a non-answer, so it seemed silly to even try asking it.

"Burnerman's a special kind of Navi," Black explained. "He might be the only one left like him. He'd fought Blues before he was first deleted, and when I reconstructed him for Atsuki, I made sure he retained... Well, the memories that were useful. It was definitely interesting, working on him..." Black seemed to be thinking about something else now. "Did you like the tournament?" he asked suddenly. He was still thinking about something else, which irritated Kaita. Here was Black saying he was being honest and acting sort of nicer, and then turning around and not talking for real.

Still, Kaita answered, "I don't know. It was really hot, and we always had to sleep on the ground. And with all those viruses, you always had to be watching out. And the fog with the zombies and stuff..." He made a face. "Okay, I hated it!"

"That kind of stuff is fun in bits and pieces, but I agree. All at once, it was miserable. And in the middle of summer..." Black cut himself off with a groan.

"It wasn't much fun for us, either," Turboman piped in. "We may not be too concerned with the heat, but having to protect you guys all the time wasn't exactly a cruise."

"Not even the forest saved it for you, huh?" Black asked.

"That's right, that was supposed to be the big draw," Punk said. To Black, he added, "I wish you would've figured out how to clear it away in those Points, though. Fighting in it's a pain, right?"

"Got it in one," Turboman replied. "I would've preferred a nice, straightforward tournament."

"Aww, you can't keep Alex up there from his fun, can you?" Black asked, jerking his thumb toward the rightmost tower, which bordered the arena. "I mean, after he invited us to _his_ island with _his_ little play fort, and hired me to pack it full of the worst stuff I could think of-and you'd better believe I milked him for as much cash as I could..."

"Can't he hear you?" asked Kaita, looking around for a hidden camera.

"Not on this floor, no. That was the first thing I checked on when I got here." Black looked down, and after a moment, Kaita followed suit. He couldn't immediately see what the older Netbattler was looking at. In the meantime, it was a long way down, and the two weren't exactly friends. Kaita shivered and scooted a little further away. "What's the matter, afraid of heights?"

"Afraid of me giving you a push?" Punk chimed in. "I'm not in a 'push' mood right now. If you wanna commit suicide, you'll have to do it without my help. Sorry." Black grinned.

Kaita rolled his eyes. "Y'know, people aren't going to think you guys are wimps just because you're nice once in a while."

"Of course they will," Black said seriously. "See, whether you're good or bad to someone has a lot to do with how you act."

"Did you read that in a book or something?" Kaita asked skeptically. "I think I'd notice if someone was doing bad stuff."

"Really?" Black asked, softly and thoughtfully. "Then why are we capable of having a civil conversation?" Kaita wasn't sure how to explain. He hadn't worked out a reasonable explanation by the time Black continued, "Kaita, I'm a liar." With a self-deprecating grin, he explained, "Everything about my situation requires me to be. It's practically forbidden for me to be nice to you guys, and I can never be straightforward with you."

Kaita stared at him in confusion. "Then what was all this?"

"Me doing a bad job." Black looked down beyond the balcony's edge and sighed. He looked back over at Kaita. "All I'm saying is, don't think of me as one of your friends."

"I didn't say I was-"

"But I'm not just one of the bad guys anymore, am I?" Black smiled, only the faintest bit of worry visible on his brow. "You aren't afraid of me now."

"Huh? Well, uh-sort of-"

"Not really. Not like you should be." With a new burst of energy, Black announced, "So you see, just running around being nice to everyone is out of the question! My reputation would be ruined in a matter of seconds. And worse, I might get..." He affected a melodramatically horrified look. "..._soft_."

Kaita gave him a look. "You say that like it's the end of the world."

Black shrugged. "You haven't seen what we're capable of." A little more brightly, he added, "Besides, I like this thing between us right where it is."

"You do?"

"Yeah!" Black admitted, "Really, I like these weird little chats. They're different. Fun."

"Then that means you have to be nice sometimes, like I said. If you go right back to being totally bad, we'll never get the chance to talk again," Kaita explained with a triumphant smile.

Black shifted in his spot. "But... but..."

Punk's answer was much more decisive. "And what happens when you blab about it to your friends?"

"Come on!" Kaita said, smiling. "It never hurt anyone to lighten up once in a while, right? If it matters that much to you, I guess I won't tell."

Black sighed, "Geez..." but he was smiling. "We'll see."

"Really?"

"I didn't say yes or no, I said 'we'll see'! You really are a pest, kiddo." Black pushed himself off the banister to stand up straight. "Well, wish me luck. Or wish Enzan luck, if you prefer. You may or may not be disappointed." He walked inside with Punk following him, leaving Kaita alone on the balcony.

"That was really weird," Turboman said.

"You said it," Kaita said, and headed for the door. He stopped before he opened it, though. "But, still... I'd like to get to know him," Kaita admitted. "There's something really weird about him, but not in a bad way." He pushed the door open. "I think he'd like a friend."


	28. I Don't Approve of What You've Done

**A/N:** I... actually don't think I can say anything to any of that. You'll have to wait and figure out all the whys! Bwahaha! And, no, of course your reviews aren't annoying! (If anything, I wish there were more reviews!) I'm thankful to have them. And now, possibly my favorite battle of them all!

* * *

"This is it, huh?" Kaita asked, zipping up his bag. "Two Netbattles this morning, the final this afternoon, and then we get to go home," he recalled, flopping onto his unmade bed.

"That's good," Turboman said. "I can't wait to get back to the Internet! I feel like we've got so much to do."

"So much we've learned..." Kaita sighed. "I feel like we're wasting time here. I want to show Black I can keep my promise. And Poipu-san and Meiru-san and Enzan-san... They're waiting for us to get better, too. It might take some work, but we can do it, right?"

"You bet!" Turboman replied. "But we have to watch these Netbattles first... I see what you mean." Kaita stared up at the ceiling; just remembering what all had gone on in the past weeks. It all made him feel drained. He couldn't wait to be back in his room at home. "Still," Turboman said from near his Operator's head, "they won't be dull ones!"

"Definitely not," Kaita said. "How could they be, with Enzan and..." That one bizarre night flashed into his mind, the one that Kaita knew was real though it still felt imagined. "...and Black."

The two were silent for a moment. "Well, we know Enzan's not bad, so I'm rooting for him!" Turboman said. Kaita was sure some of that cheeriness was forced. "How about you?"

"Um... yeah, me too." He knew it wasn't right to think it-as Black had said, everything would return to normal when they got back to Densan City, and he was dishonest by necessity-but Kaita swore there was at least a little good in Black. If not good, then neutral. No matter what the case, he couldn't just think Enzan would handily defeat the other Netbattler. "I think the best Netbattler will win," he said carefully.

"You're thinking Black might win, too, aren't you?" Turboman said, taking Kaita by surprise. "Well, I think you put it best. The best driver reaches victory road."

"Mm."

"You didn't think I'd think that, did you?" Kaita blinked down at his PET. "Ah-ha! It doesn't work that way, Kaita-kun!" Turboman said triumphantly. "If you're going to go around thinking crazy thoughts, then so am I!"

Kaita laughed. "Um... thanks?" Looking at his PET brought to his attention the time displayed next to his Navi. "Aaaah! I won't get breakfast at this rate!" He was out the door and downstairs in the blink of an eye.

"Kaita-kun!" Mary was waving at him. "There you are!" she said, while Kaita took his seat.

"We were wondering where you were, especially after last night," Meiru said.

"I'm much better now," Kaita said. "And I mean it this time!" he said, noticing Kalama's skeptical look. He glanced around. Poipu, Roll, and Dingo were sitting with the other three, with Knightman standing imposingly over his Operator and Beat resting on the table in front of Roll. Kaita smiled nervously at the huge Navi, then realized something odd. "Doesn't Enzan-san usually sit with you guys?" he asked Meiru and Poipu, giving the group another look. Sure enough, he wasn't there-or anywhere at the table, for that matter. Black was there with the Nova crew, but not his opponent.

"I haven't seen him all morning," Meiru said. "I'm a little worried... Then again, maybe he's thinking up the perfect plan to smash Punk into the floor," she said, giving the Nova end of the table a nasty grin. Yumi smiled and waved at her, then turned back to the Nova conversation.

"Hey, aren't they usually laughing over there?" Kaita asked.

"Of course," Kalama said with a scowl. "I bet it's about us, too..." She looked over at them. "Huh. They sure aren't now."

Dingo summed it up perfectly. "Something's bugging them. Those looks on their faces say it all."

"Someone should see what they're talking about," Kalama said, leaning to the side already.

"No!" Mary said. "Who knows what they'd do? They certainly wouldn't tell us."

"We won't ask them! We'll spy on them!" Kalama clarified.

Meiru sighed, closing her eyes as she did, then opening them. "We shouldn't," she said with determination. "I really want to, but we shouldn't!"

If nobody else was going to, Kaita was all for it. "I'll go!" Before Meiru or Mary could protest, he slipped under the tablecloth and headed straight for the two pairs of boots and one pair of sneakers at the end of the table.

"...Enzan, that's all," Black said. It sounded like a confession more than anything. "It's not a big deal-"

"That's a damn huge deal," came Atsuki's voice tightly. "Black, I don't know if you know this, but Ijuuin's been on our watch list for about as long as he's been waving his silly little badge. His girlfriend's getting noticeable, too."

"Yes, I do know!" Black sounded a little flustered, like this whole conversation was a bad surprise. "Damn it, Atsuki, I'm not that stupid."

Yumi sighed loudly. "You know I hate it when you start going on about these 'watch lists' and 'special plans' you guys make up that you never share with me..."

A little more calmly, Black said, "It's just what it sounds like, Yumi. People from around here who might throw a wrench in the works."

"Of course, if they're on our list, it also means the two of us already know how to deal with them," Atsuki said smugly, almost condescendingly. "It's nothing to worry about, unless one of us does something incredibly stupid..." Kaita was sure that new edge in Atsuki's voice was directed at the other man there. How many people knew what had happened in that corridor, anyway? Kaita couldn't imagine Black just telling the other two, especially considering their reactions now.

"You mean you might've screwed up?" Yumi said icily.

"I'm telling you, don't sweat it," Black said. Sarcastically, he told her, "Contrary to popular belief, I can take care of myself."

"Black, come on, I didn't mean it like that." Yumi shifted in her seat, sitting up a little more. "I'm just worried about our security. If this keeps up, Nova's sunk-"

"And I'm telling you, that won't happen," Black said. "I'm only getting extra attention because I'm the lynchpin. That's been accounted for. Everything will go as it should." The tablecloth wrinkled, lifted, and Black's face was inches away from the younger Netbattler's. "Good morning, kiddo."

Kaita didn't stop screaming until he was back in his seat, bumping his head on the table twice trying to run back as fast as he could. "Watch list," he reported back, gasping for air, "Enzan's..." He nervously looked back at the far end of the room to see the three Nova members walking away, their conversation much quieter.

"Oh, that's no problem," Meiru said. "Enzan's been a Net Savior for a long time. Of course he's a threat to them." Kaita wanted to say why they'd been talking about him in the first place, but he wasn't sure what sort of reaction Meiru would have. She couldn't stand Black at all, and he didn't think she'd think highly of-or even believe-Enzan being familiar with the Nova member. "Come on, let's go get our seats!" While the others got up and left, Kaita realized that he'd spent the whole time poking his nose into Nova's business and not eating his breakfast. He looked from his friends leaving the room back to the table of food and made his decision. He scarfed down a few slices of toast and washed them down with orange juice, then got up and ran for the stands.

The competing Netbattlers were already on the battlefield when he took his seat. Each Operator was looking into the other's eyes, one's brown eye narrowed in the coldest glare Kaita had ever seen, the other regarding his enemy with what looked almost like indifference. Kaita jumped as the announcer yelled, _"Let the match begin!"_

"Let's get this over with," Enzan said grimly. A white face guard slid out of Blues's helmet to cover his nose and mouth.

As the Navi shot forward, Black called, "Area Steal!" Punk vanished as Blues brought his blade down where the other Navi's head would've been. Kaita was surprised-Enzan didn't intend to let Black get the first move like he'd let Tamako and Atsuki. But Black wasn't scared at all.

"You're rushing things, Enzan," he chided. "I thought you gave battles this important a little more thought." Blues halted Punk's shoulder plate-first tackle with his sword, turning just in time to block the attack. Unlike his fight with Cirrus, Blues was making Punk work hard to keep his enemy where he was. The two were in a stalemate for a few seconds, neither giving the other any leeway. Then, Punk detached his shoulder plate and vanished in an Area Steal. With the huge resistance from the other side gone, Blues nearly fell over. His attempts not to impale himself on the prominent spike on the discus below him weren't helped when Punk's huge, heavy boots slammed down onto him while he was regaining his balance; little more than a millimeter came between him and the spike as he was slammed into the rust-red dome. A Samurai Sword formed on his right arm, and Blues whipped around and slashed at Punk's legs. The orange-haired Navi grunted as the sword struck home, but his extendable arm quickly slithered around Blues' sword arm and hauled him upward. A second sword came to the silver-haired Navi's rescue, and he wasted no time in cutting the cable; instead of the crash Punk had been hoping for, Blues landed on his feet, knees bending to take some of the jolt. Punk looked down at the chopped-off end of his arm and narrowed his eyes before jumping up and over one of Blues' Sonic Booms.

On the sidelines, Kaita, Meiru, and Roll exchanged worried looks. "Why isn't he just tying Blues up now?" Kaita asked. "He must be sort of off balance..."

"He's faking it, just like he did with us," Meiru replied. "It's not like we can warn Enzan from here."

Kaita was about to say something else on that subject, but Black's cold, mocking taunt made him pay attention. "I know how you work, Enzan. And I know how you think I work. Unfortunately, I have no intention of trying to have an equally-matched fight to the death." He slotted in a pair of chips. "So sorry."

"Oh, it's fine." As Punk rocketed forward on a Dash Condor, then vanished, Enzan said, "Neither did I. Iai Form, slot-in!"

Black obviously hadn't seen that coming, and Punk's attempts to dodge on his own just got his Dash Condor hacked to bits by Blues' triad of cuts and himself tumbling helplessly along the ground. After the rust-red Navi was carried off by yet another Area Steal, Kaita couldn't help but wonder how many Black carried around. "He can't have enough to last the whole match," he muttered as Punk escaped near-doom once again.

"How long are you going to run away?" Enzan asked. "Magnum, slot-in!" A bulky, gray cannon appeared on Blues' arm.

"That's right. Hold still and aim your toy," Black taunted. "Needle Machine, slot-in." The bug-like Needle Machine shot in three directions, forcing Blues into the air. Kaita knew that there was no way Blues could fire the Magnum in time, but he was still surprised to see it disappearing even before Punk reappeared next to him in mid-air. Blues slashed downward with his default sword, but Black and Punk watched with stony faces. "Catch." Punk's cable arm deftly snaked around Blues's sword and arm in milliseconds, tugging him uncontrollably past until he hit the ground. Punk rode an Area Steal down to meet him.

"I've about had it with the both of you, causin' us so much misery," he growled, slamming his oversized boot into Blues' back to keep him stunned before kicking him into the air.

"Senshahou, slot-" Before Black could send the chip in, Blues disappeared in an Area Steal. "Crap." Punk had planted himself in preparation for taking the shot, but that made him an easy target for Blues' opening slice. Punk flipped himself to face Blues as he fell, data trickling from the cut across his back. "Oh, please," Black said mockingly as Punk blocked with a shield and sent his cable arm at Blues, who simply sliced it away. "Paladin Sword, slot-in!" Punk swiped at Blues' head and was blocked by his opponent's sword. But that left his other arm free to wrap around Blues; he pulled himself to his feet, throwing Blues off-balance.

"Stone Body, slot-in!" Blues turned into an unwieldy weight in Punk's arm, toppling backwards and bringing Punk down with him. Punk tugged, but his wrapping up his enemy had turned against him; the cable wouldn't budge. "Earthquake!" Kaita realized what the idea was. Either Punk got crushed and Blues didn't thanks to his Stone Body-raised defenses; or Punk did what he was doing now, using a shoulder plate to cut Blues free and escaping in an Area Steal. Blues reverted to his normal colors as soon as Punk was gone, getting out from under the falling white weight with an Area Steal of his own.

"Kouri Hougan, slot-in!" Blues reappeared from the Area Steal just in time for the light blue bomb to hit him, freezing him to the spot.

Enzan didn't seem impressed. "Flame Sword!" The heat of the Flame Sword easily melted most of the ice away; from there, it was a matter of cutting away the rest of it with one well-placed swipe.

"Senshahou!" A massive gray gun formed on Punk's arm. The Kouri Hougan had served its purpose; Blues had been slowed enough that the Senshahou's energy blast could nail him in the chest.

"Well, I think your struggles are hopeless. You should just give up," Black said.

Even as his Navi was sent skidding, leaving a trail of dirt behind him, Enzan said, "Really? I was thinking the same thing. Program Advance!" It was like the tables had turned. Blues was on his feet echoing Enzan's shout, Meiru was grinning next to Kaita for the first time during the Netbattle, and Black and Punk were sharing alarmed glances.

"The world hates us, Punk," Black said, sending over a Neo Variable.

"Sword!" Blues dodged the Sonic Booms with ease as a sword appeared on his arm.

Punk sent out his cable arm immediately after the Neo Variable disappeared from his arm, causing Blues to stumble. "Doesn't it always?"

The hacker gave his Navi a short nod before their opponents' next move: "Wide Sword!"

"Vulcan, slot-in!" Punk opened fire and kept his target in his sights, never giving Blues a moment to stop.

"If that hits him, won't it make him lose the swords?" Kaita asked. "Or mess up the Program Advance some other way?"

"Like the timing? Yeah, it might," Meiru said. "Or else-yes!" She punched the air in triumph. Punk had run out of bullets.

"Long Sword!" Blues lifted his arms over his head. Black slammed in Battlechips, too rushed to give any warning. While the blue light of the swords' resonation began to intensify, Punk looked down at his arms in confusion before sending out a Yo-Yo on his newly-recovered cable arm and tossing a Kusamura Seed with his hand. With some effort, Blues wrenched his foot back, turning himself sideways and letting the Yo-Yo pass him. He let the green, orb-like Kusamura Seed hit him, grunting in pain but standing his ground. Punk was still receiving chips from Black's earlier flurry of slotting in, some canceling others as they appeared on Punk's arms: a Magnum, a Corn Shot, something Kaita couldn't immediately see the effect of—

"Program Advance: Dream Sword!" A blinding flash lit up the battlefield as Blues swung the coil of energy downward. Kaita couldn't stand to look into it for more than a moment, but he saw enough. Punk was completely enveloped in the thick band of light; by the time it dissipated, he was completely gone. Black seemed stunned. He almost looked sad.

Kaita wasn't sure if Enzan pitied him or not; the Net Savior's expression was unreadable. "Game, set, and match."

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"You're going to win after all! That's _boring!_ I've seen that happen a thousand times!"

"Alex," Clara said sternly, but her brother wasn't listening.

"Well, I've got a challenge for you!" Scialto said petulantly. "Try and beat-"

"Alex, wait!"

"-this!" He flipped open a box on the bottom of the control panel and pressed the button inside.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"That's it?" Kaita asked, though he knew it had to be.

"That's it!" Dingo said, clambering over the seats to reach Kaita, Mary, and Meiru. "That sure showed him-"

Meiru's eyes snapped back to the battlefield. "Wait!" she said. "Something's wrong..." A millisecond later, Blues gasped as something tightened around his throat and limbs, raising him off the ground. Black's expression turned into a decidedly nasty grin.

At the same time, a tremor shook the ground. "That's weird," Roll noticed, "it seemed to be coming from the battlefield..."

Kaita had a feeling he knew the cause. To his surprise, Black seemed to, too. He looked at the ground with a wide eye, then quickly commanded, "Punk, stop!" He pushed a button on his PET. Even as Kaita watched Punk fade into view behind Blues, his cable arm relaxing its grip to let Blues drop to the ground, the boy remembered when Black had used the same trick in the WWW Area. Of course he wouldn't let the battle end like that.

Meiru wondered, "What's causing this?" A loud burst of feedback from the speakers mounted above them, along with the accompanying much larger tremor, cut her off. More peeved, she added, "And why does Black seem to know what it is?" Kaita couldn't hear what Black and Enzan were talking about any longer, but it looked a lot like an argument. The two Navis had backed off to their Operators' sides; something was pushing against the ground, causing it to swell up in the center of the battlefield.

"-makes no sense to fight it here, considering the spectators. We need to get them to safety," Enzan said as whatever was underneath punched through, revealing a huge red fist and jolting the speaker system back into place.

"But if we-" The fist retreated, and Black finally conceded, "Fine." As the Operators and their Navis left the arena, it burst open, leaving a deep hole-one that, Kaita knew, went all the way down to the basement. For emerging from it was a massive, stone-faced Navi with two spikes pointing out from either side of its red helmet. Its muscles were much blockier than a human's and covered by a white bodysuit. A huge red glove with green trim smashed the hole even wider. Kaita watched in fascination as it pulled itself out into the arena, reaching up for something to grab hold of-

"Kaita-kun, we've got to get out of here!" Roll pulled him back into the hallway as the massive Navi's fingers found the spectators' box.

"Th-Thanks, Roll," Kaita stammered. Everyone else was just ahead of them, hurrying down the stairs. As he started down, Kaita heard a loud cracking noise. Things were falling up there. Roll tightened her grip on Kaita's arm and quickened her pace, forcing the boy to follow suit. They emerged in the lavish hallway. "Now what?" he asked, looking behind him.

More crashes sounded from the battlefield. Kaita watched Yumi run past with a duffel bag and remembered his own luggage. "Anything you're attached to?" Roll asked.

"Some Battlechips..."

"Then hurry!"


	29. I Wish You'd Stayed Behind

**A/N:** Oh, you've got nothing to worry about there. Meiru's one of my favorite characters, and I always felt she had the potential to hold her own - she's one of the few characters besides the Net Savior trio to pull off an effective Program Advance, and nobody seemed to have a problem calling on her if need be! - and the show just ended before she had the chance to prove it. She never really had to, after all, with Netto there... his absence affects things interestingly, which is part of why this fic is so darned long. I really enjoy writing the five futurefic leads - there are even a couple of unfinished AUs of this fic (fanfics of a fanfic?) just from me derping around with them. :)

Hope your finals go or have gone well! And I can't say much about Black right now, except that his conversations with Kaita really are honest. (And also that WoYM might help a little there, and definitely has some of my favorite moments in the whole fic in it.)

* * *

Black was regretting his last move more and more as he kept running and his breath started to come out in shortening gasps. That kind of trick was beyond Alex's understanding; he would've been out of the tournament at least, turning the final into Pride versus Meiru at most. And he had no idea Alex would react so badly. He was starting to find that he didn't know normal people as well as he thought he did; first Kaita managing to get to him, and now this...

_"Can I-"_

Black nearly jumped out of his skin; he'd almost forgotten Atsuki could just pipe in on his implanted transmitter's frequency. He snaked his hand under his hair and up to behind his ear, where he pressed down the tiny button that would let him respond. "Not a chance," he said. "We're doing this old-school."

_"If you weren't so damn slow, maybe you'd see how panicked everyone is," _Atsuki said. _"Who'd miss me? Besides, something that big could certainly intrude on some Garuu's territory, and..."_

"When we need to show them what we're capable of, we will. There're four Navis to fight it, it's not anything to make a big deal out of," Black said impatiently. He then went for the only shot that would shut Atsuki up: "Besides, who's in charge of this mission, again?"

"Black, hurry it up!" Punk shouted from nearer the door. "You don't got time for messin' around!" Hoping his fellow Nova member wouldn't be up to anything, Black took a steadying breath and picked up the pace. He and Punk dashed through the double doors as a loud crash told them the dining room and the lobby had just become one big, partly ceiling-less room.

"Gamma!" Someone else, a well-fed man with straggly blonde hair, was staggering backwards out the door, neck craned. "Gamma, stop! It's me! It's Alex!"

"See?" Black wheezed. "I'm not the last one out, right? That counts for somethin'."

"Listen to me! I made a mistake! I didn't mean to hurt anyone! You scared them! That's all I wanted! You can stop!" Gamma's head turned to look down at his Operator.

"_Get down!"_ Meiru yelled, yanking Alex away. A green beam tore through the ground, and Meiru and Alex both brought their arms in front of their faces to protect their eyes from the dirt that went flying in all directions. Black only bothered to cover his organic eye with one hand; his false one had taken worse than a few grains of sand before, and he wanted to keep an eye on Gamma in case the thing had built-in Area Steals.

"Gamma!" Alex yelled, earning him an annoyed look from Meiru. The Navi hadn't even turned, but Black didn't want to be anywhere near Alex when Gamma took another shot at His Royal Tubbiness. "I'm your Operator! We're supposed to be partners, right? Partners!"

Black shut his eye and shook his head, not believing what he was seeing. "Where were you in this partnership, Scialto-san?" he asked, mockingly polite. "Did Gamma have a say in this, or was it just _you_ who liked him shut up in the basement, out of sight and out of mind unless you thought you needed him to fight?"

Meiru didn't even have to ask Black if he was lying. He could see her putting the pieces together, and soon she looked as disgusted as he was. "How do you know about this?" Alex asked, indignant.

"I like to scope out a place before I sleep in it," he said, shrugging. "Call it habit."

"Gamma!" The monstrous Navi's head turned again. Before Alex could try any more pleading, Roll clamped a hand over his mouth and helped Meiru drag him away from the ruins of the Castillo.

Black held out a hand to Meiru. She had a backpack and a messenger bag to manage along with Alex, and the poor girl looked frazzled. "Why not exchange one loser for another? I'm easier to drag."

Meiru tossed her head to get some of her hair out of her face. "I can't just leave him," she said, annoyed. Whether that was because of Alex or him, Black didn't know.

Gamma lowered a massive, knobby buster at the three. "I think you can," Black said. "One of these won't do it. Spreader, White Capsule, slot-in!" Punk's volley of blue shots whizzed past his Operator to hit the Gamma Buster, freezing it, but not the Navi's white-armored upper arm.

Behind him, Blues surprised him by yelling, "Sonic Boom!" Black ducked, not trusting the red-armored Navi to miss him. Two blasts hit both of Gamma's shoulders, limiting his arms' movement.

"Ye of little faith," Enzan said, easily hauling Black up by the jacket. "As long as we keep Gamma occupied, Alex should be fine with the other finalists. They've taken cover in this part of the forest," he explained, indicating the trees behind them.

"That's no good, because it's not part of the forest," Black snapped. "It's just there to separate the Castillo from the first round competitors."

"I realize that," Enzan said. "But if there's-"

"There isn't. To get to the nearest tunnel entrance, they have to cross a quarter mile of flat plain _and_ part of the forest, not to mention said tunnel is full of viruses and there's no telling how many are still in the forest. They're sitting ducks," Black explained.

"So we're going to have to distract Gamma until they've all made it across," Meiru said heavily, giving Alex a dark look.

"It gets better," said a new voice. Black was relieved to see a petite woman run up to the group, her slender, tutu-wearing Navi behind her. Following the two were Princess Pride and Knightman.

"Clara!" he said cheerfully. "I know them, they'll just fight me at every turn. Explain to them what all's going on so we can get started?"

"Why else would I be here?" she asked. "Pirou, take Alex to his beloved contestants. I'm sure they'll be glad to see him."

"Careful of his mouth," Roll warned as Pirou lightly stepped over. She seemed to pick up Alex with ease, whisking him away before he could make any more pleas to Gamma.

Clara began, "Gamma's always been unstable. The more Alex tried to upgrade him, the worse it got. He hasn't been safe to wake up for years. I don't know what Alex was thinking..." Her eyes darted over to Black, then back to the others. Black had to fight the urge to sigh in exasperation; had it really seemed like such a given that he would make it past Enzan? In the meantime, Gamma was beginning to stir, so Black sent Punk a second Spreader and White Capsule. The Navi aimed higher this time, peppering Gamma's upper body with paralysis-inducing buster shots. "There're only two real choices, and both of them involve the Catacombs." Pirou had returned. "Black, could you...?"

Black was glad to. "See, when Mr. Scialto first came up with this idea, he needed an easy way to check up on you guys. His family's been using-"

"There's a network of tunnels stretching through the whole island, and chances are the Dimensional Area Generator and whatever device he used to substantiate our Navis are down there somewhere," Enzan said, sounding far more interested in getting to the point. "The others can either get their Navis back out and help us delete Gamma or destroy the generator."

Black scowled. "You're no fun."

"Stay close," Clara was quietly telling Pirou. "We won't be long." As the dainty Navi turned to face the bulky beast towering above them, Clara told the four semifinalists, "I wouldn't wait around for something to happen. Without the Midis and Technos using the tunnels, it'll be overrun with viruses. It'll take a while to get anywhere."

"One of us could help you guard the other Operators," Meiru said, giving Black a pointed look.

Clara shook her head. "Alex may be an idiot, but Gamma's no joke. You're going to need all the help you can get."

A little reluctantly, Meiru said, "Okay."

Clara turned to Black next. "Have any White Capsules left?"

"Afraid not," he replied.

Clara nodded in understanding. "I'll keep Gamma paralyzed while you four take the others across. Then, I'll take over and get them to the tunnels. We'll see what happens from there." Above them, Gamma came unfrozen. It finally unleashed its charge, but Punk was ready with a Dream Aura. Over the thuds of Gamma stomping over to them, Clara yelled, "Move!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"Excuse me! Can I have your attention?"

Kaita and Mary looked over at the four Operators and their Navis as Poipu announced, "We're going to cross into the forest, so find one of our Navis and stay close! The longer we're out there, the more danger you're all in, so we have to move fast!"

Mary looked petrified, and Kaita remembered her medical condition. "I'll stay right next to you. We'll be fine together, right?"

"She okay?" Dingo asked.

"It's her heart condition. She can't run," Kaita said.

"I'm sorry..." Mary said, looking at her feet.

Dingo tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked up, surprised. "Here, get on," he said, squatting so she could hold onto his shoulders. "Can't leave a friend behind, right?"

"Thank you," she said. Then, worried, she asked, "Are you sure? If I slowed you down..."

"Sure I'm sure," Dingo laughed. "Come on!" he told Kaita, and the two hurried over to where the other contestants were already gathered.

Meiru was at the front of the crowd, slowly surveying the group. "I think I see everyone," she noted. Kaita noticed that while all four Operators were in the front of the group, their Navis weren't with them. Blues was in front, Roll and Punk took either side, and Knightman protected the back.

Poipu did a count of her own, then said, "I'd say we're ready when you are." Sure enough, Kaita could see the twelve other contestants and Scialto, the large, blonde man who seemed to be the tournament's host.

More loudly, Meiru announced, "Okay, guys, we need you to stay close! We have to go across to the forest, and we can't stop right away if people fall behind! Our Navis are there in case Gamma catches up to us, but as long as we keep a steady pace, we won't have a problem!"

"She sure knows how to put a positive spin on things," someone muttered behind Kaita. "Didn't she say if you fall back, you get left to be squashed by that thing?" Now Kaita recognized the voice: it was Yumi's.

"This is scary," Kalama whispered to his right. "But it's a cool scary, isn't it, Beat?" The blue bird squawked in agreement. Kaita just thought it was scary. Though he liked Kalama, there were a lot of things they seemed to disagree on.

"Okay, let's head out!" Poipu called. Kaita was a little surprised when they moved out of the tree cover; he hadn't realized that it was already the middle of the afternoon. He looked back and saw the two red prongs of Gamma's helmet rising above the trees. "It's coming closer," he realized. But so was the forest's cover. The group made it in just as a figure ran out of the ring of trees. Moments later, those trees were lit on fire by a wide blast of green energy.

"That looks annoying," Meiru said. She and the other three Operators had gathered in the front of the crowd, their Navis nearby. The first figure, a blonde-haired, petite woman, was coming closer. A second figure came out of the trees. Meiru sucked in a breath; Kaita recognized her as Pirou, the Navi that had delivered Scialto to them, and she was staggering.

"That's not good," Black said. "Maybe I-"

"We have Recovery chips for that," Enzan said.

"No use trying to slack off!" Meiru added. "We're all fighting this thing together." Black shot the Net Saviors a dour look. "How about you save your energy for that instead of harassing us?"

"How about you keep being distracted, so I won't have to deal with you!" Black countered. "I could take care of this much more quickly on my own."

"Oh, sure," Meiru laughed. "Says the guy who would've lost against Enzan if he hadn't resorted to cheating?"

"It's not cheating," Black said, smirking. "It's thinking ahead. Something you've proven yourself completely incapable of."

"Since when?!" Meiru asked, her hands on her hips.

"Well, since now. Y'know, considering the situation we're in, it's really not that smart to be trying to argue with me," Black coolly pointed out. "Just saying." While Meiru fumed, Black glanced over at Enzan. "So, do you really think you'd have won?" he asked.

Kaita didn't expect Enzan to rise to the bait like Meiru had, and he wasn't surprised. "Here," the older Netbattler said the moment Pirou's Operator had joined them, handing over a Battlechip.

"Thanks," she said, slotting it in. Kaita saw a purple light shimmer around Pirou's body, a Recovery taking effect. With her injuries lessened, the Navi's pace quickened almost instantly. "You guys had better get started," she said. "Good luck." The four thanked her, then walked through the trees to face Gamma, their Navis just ahead of them. Once Pirou was at Clara's side, she said, "Okay, everyone! We need to head deeper in the forest, in this direction. Pirou's going to be our main source of protection from here on out, so we need to stay close." Everyone jumped as they heard a loud crack.

"I feel safer," Atsuki explained, holding a thick branch in his hand.

"Like that'll do anything against viruses. Show-off," Dingo muttered. Atsuki glanced over, but said nothing. Kaita doubted he'd heard anything; they were separated from him by a couple of people, and Dingo hadn't been that loud. "I'd stick near that Navi. Sound good to you?" he asked Mary.

"Definitely," she agreed. An explosion rocked the ground. "I hope we make it to the tunnels soon..."

"Yeah, it'll only get worse up here," Kaita said. He thought about the four who were guarding them by keeping Gamma from pursuit. They were all capable Netbattlers, but would even they be stopped by an opponent this big?


	30. I Wish I Could Convince You

"How can something that big hide from us?" Roll wondered, scanning the eastern half of the island for movement from her treetop perch. Once the defenseless contestants had left, the remaining Netbattlers all had decided they needed to save their Dream Auras for emergencies. They'd taken the fight into the trees, where they had some natural cover from Gamma's Wide Shot-esque attack. But after they'd gone out of sight, Gamma had vanished into some trees himself. He hadn't been anywhere near where the contestants were headed, which was good; but the fact remained that he was taller than the trees. He had to be sneaking through them, and that was not good. On his treetop next to Roll, Blues had his eyes on the opposite side of the island. If neither of them saw Gamma, he could be ambushing them before they knew what was happening.

"There," Blues said, pointing to an area a mile or two away. Roll saw the rustling of treetops for herself and shivered; Gamma had covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. The same huge size that made him a walking target in combat let him take larger steps, giving him a huge advantage when traveling long distances. The two Navis dropped out of the trees to alert the rest of the group. Neither were surprised to see Pride, Enzan, and Meiru attempting to formulate a plan, Knightman standing over them, while Black and Punk were left out to just listen.

However, listening had never struck Roll as being in Black's nature, and she was proven right. "Your Navis are back," he told the other four. "I bet they'll be saying Gamma's right on top of us by now. I thought maybe we should cripple him, but you just had to go after his arms, didn't you?"

"Gamma is approximately two-point-eight kilometers away to the northwest, Enzan-sama," Blues reported.

Black beamed. "Excellent! You see how far away he's gotten? Thank you for proving my point," he told Blues. The swordsman didn't even acknowledge that he'd been spoken to.

Meiru sighed. "It seemed like you were less trouble the last few times we were in danger."

"Ah, but Gamma could've gotten here much faster and he hasn't," Black pointed out. "He's dumb as a brick, there's no immediate danger. Plenty of time to kill."

"Not exactly," Enzan said. "I think we should be the ones getting the jump on him."

"I agree. If an enemy of that size sneaks up on us, it'll be disastrous," Pride said. "We need to get moving-the faster, the better."

"Definitely." Meiru smiled sweetly at Black, who didn't seem to like the idea of traveling that far on foot. "We have a lot of ground to cover. I don't think we can waste time listening to you complain!"

Sourly, Black said, "And what are we going to do when we find Gamma?"

"I'm sure we'll know when we get there," Meiru said. "Tally ho!"

"But we don't have a plan," Black complained.

"At the moment, it doesn't matter," Enzan said. "It's still better for us to have that thing in our sights." Black opened his mouth, but Enzan looked him in the eye and said, in a tone that allowed no argument, "Let's go."

The eight set off through the forest, soon losing sight of the clearing and what had been the Castillo behind the trees.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

At first, Kaita had been patient with Scialto's complaining. The man obviously hadn't expected this to happen, and it had to be a serious blow to have something like the Castillo reduced to rubble. As time went on, Kaita started to notice that Scialto was repeating himself. By the time the group came to a halt, Kaita was completely unmoved by their host's misery after watching him try to get the attention of nearly all the adults.

Clara had guided them to a small clearing; from there, she walked over to what looked like an old paving stone on the ground. "Stand back, please," she said. The ground swung back, revealing a ladder down to a stone hallway. Pirou jumped down as Clara said, "Everyone, down here!"

"Thank goodness," Mary said. "I can't imagine how bad it would've been if we'd run into viruses..."

"What would be the point of making new ones?" Kaita pointed out, "Nobody's around for them to battle against, right?"

"Or maybe it's 'cause they all moved down there," Dingo said. A horde of black spiders with green stripes had shown up.

Most of the finalists had moved back, and Scialto was up against a tree a meter away, but one of their group was running forward-Atsuki with his stick. He jumped down into the hallway, squashing one virus upon landing and whacking a second into the wall, leaving a gash in its abdomen. The virus curled around the wound with a screech of pain before vanishing. Atsuki wasted no time skewering another two. "I feel safer," he told the small crowd watching in amazement. Between him and Pirou, the viruses had all been taken care of. "Well? Aren't you going to come down here so we can get moving?"

Once the group reached the bottom, the hole they'd come through began to close up. The lighting just made the tunnels seem creepier. After Dingo and Mary were on the floor, the girl said, "I think I'll be fine from here. Thank you so much..."

Dingo let her down with a grin and a thumbs up. "I told you, no problem!"

"What are we looking for down here, anyway?" Kaita wondered aloud.

"Two things: the Dimensional Area Generator that's keeping Gamma and those viruses substantiated, and the machines that took your Navis out into the Dimensional Area," Clara said from ahead of them as they started walking. Atsuki was in the back, so they'd decided to stay close to the front. "There are more of the machines, so there's a better chance of us running into them. But if we come across a Dimensional Area Generator first, Pirou'll destroy it."

"I see," Mary said. She explained to Kaita and their friends, "Either we send Gamma into the island network, or we get all of our Navis back out and delete him."

"Close, but it's not that simple," Clara said. "The island network went down with the Castillo. Gamma would be sent somewhere on the Internet proper, and that would endanger even more people than just us-not to mention those four finalists' Navis would be spirited away with him. It'll be easiest to use the substantiation machine-after Gamma's been deleted, we'll set it to return your Navis to their PETs."

"Okay," Kaita said. Something still bugged him about Clara's explanations. "But why do we have to delete Gamma?" he asked.

"That's right," Turboman remembered. "He was asleep before-why can't we just do that again?"

Clara sighed. "Gamma's just dangerous, okay? He just destroys everything he sees."

"But he has a brain somewhere in there, doesn't he?" Kaita asked.

Mary was in agreement. "Yeah, what if he's just hurt, and he doesn't understand? We could help him."

"If we just immobilized him, we could have Hikari-hakase look at him-"

"And are you going to tell those four up there they have to do that? What about everyone else here? Are they ready to take that risk?" Clara said, "You're right-Gamma doesn't understand. I've seen him awake much more than you have, and there's no brain left in him. It's like deleting a big, bloated virus. Now, our day is just getting started, and their time is running out up there. There are too many complications to save something like Gamma. You kids just stay quiet and let me deal with this."

Kaita protested, "But-"

"We can't change her mind, Kaita-kun," Mary said. Reluctantly, Kaita gave up the argument.

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

"I'm going to keel over and _die_."

"We know!" About ten minutes and two or three kilometers of terrain later, none of the three other Operators on distraction duty had any patience left with Black's complaining about their swift pace-not Meiru, not Pride, and certainly not Enzan, who had already turned his attention back to making some kind of slightly effective plan with the other two by the time the brunette could think of a good comeback. Knowing that said comeback wouldn't be appreciated by this bunch and now was really not the time to start more arguments, he opted to keep his mouth closed and listen in.

"I still like the idea of disabling that arm cannon. If the three of us used Program Advances on its shoulder, it would probably be unable to use it, even if it didn't detach," Pride said.

"It might squash us first," Meiru sighed. "If only there was some way to get it to hold still..."

That gave Black's memory the jog it had needed. "Atsuki's key," he recalled. "There's a heated sand pit not far from here that's about a kilometer wide. There's an effect placed over the whole thing that halves a Navi's speed."

"So we lure Gamma in and attack from outside," Enzan said.

"Exactly. Area Steals are still their normal speed, by the way." Black looked over to see that Blues and Roll had already gone to figure out where Gamma was, robbing him of his sarcastic reminder. That disappointed him; it was always nice to remind the goodies exactly who they were dealing with.

They were even quick to spot Gamma this time, already out of the tree before Black could ask what was taking so long. "Gamma's nearly on top of us," Roll reported. "But he's not quite heading in our direction; if we hold still-"

"We aren't going to, thanks," Black butted in. Ignoring the glare Meiru gave him and the disdain of the other two, he slotted in two Vulcans and said, "Punk! Five rounds rapid!"

"Aye, aye!" Punk leapt into the trees with glee. "Your sand pit's just north'a here!" he called before opening fire.

"Sweet!" To the others, Black said, "You were all eager to move before, weren't you? So move-wait for me!" The others were all so much faster, even Pride in those snazzy boots of hers. It was really annoying Black. What else was annoying him was how much running all these plans involved. It wasn't long before he was gasping for breath, and he knew he was still at least two-fifths of a kilometer away from the 'desert area'. Punk's gunfire was starting to sound worryingly distant; if Black wasn't careful, he was going to wind up flattened. He was beginning to loathe running with a passion. There was a faint tremor to the ground. "Crap," he wheezed as the tremors grew larger and he tried to make himself go faster, "crap, crap, crap-"

Enzan yanked him over to the side. "About time you got here," he said as the rumbles grew closer. A massive leg set itself down on top of the forest next to them. Black looked from Gamma's bulky red boots to what was just ahead of him, obscured by a row of trees: the simulated desert that had once held a horde of Mogura viruses and a key. Now, there were four Navis standing a few meters into it, trusting their Operators to pull them out in time because it had probably taken them this long to even get that far. "We're going to take our Navis further in, to ensure Gamma gets deep inside," Enzan explained.

"Good idea," Black said. Gamma's next step would take him only feet away from the four smaller Navis. "Area Steal!" Punk and the others were at dead center as Gamma put his foot down-and raised his other one in slow motion as the effect of the area he'd stepped in came to life. It seemed to take ages for Gamma to move anywhere near his enemies, his huge, squarish hands curling into fists as he forced himself toward them. "And again-Area Steal!" As Punk reappeared at his side, Black looked at the lumbering Navi left behind in the desert, struggling under the area's effect and confused by his targets' sudden disappearance. Gamma's rage was the kind of effect Black had accidentally produced himself many times before; it was why he rarely tried to program combat Navis. There was only so much power, only so many abilities that the average programmer, or the rushed one, could put into a Navi before it started exhibiting violent or erratic qualities. He'd never seen it pushed as far as it was with Gamma. In his opinion, Scialto deserved every bit of what was happening to him for ignoring the obvious stress he'd been putting on his Navi. Now, Gamma was so hurt and confused that he was only able to do whatever would get the pain out of his mind.

Of course, the others were important government officials in one form or another. They knew this behavior as 'villainous', perhaps even 'non-sentient'; they'd probably deleted many, many Navis who actually meant it or viruses that were programmed to simply destroy. Gamma didn't stand a chance. But such was life.

The other Navis had already moved outside of the tree cover, ready to let loose on their quarry. "Let's fry us an elephant," he murmured to Punk.

"You got it," the rust-red Navi said, amused.


	31. I Hate to See Things End

"Elec Reel, slot-in!"

"Senshahou, slot-in!"

Punk's bolt of lightning took a moment to produce a reaction from Gamma thanks to the trap the latter was stuck in. The fire from Knightman's huge gun had a more immediate effect, leaving a deep gash in the giant Navi's weakened right shoulder. Blues and Roll were ready with twin Mega Cannons as Gamma staggered, freed from the Elec Reel's blast. It formed its huge buster and slowly raised it to fire as the cannon shots hammered away. Just as Knightman and Punk were facing the business end of Gamma's buster and Meiru was starting to consider sending in a Dream Aura so Roll could help them, the buster dropped. It started to rise again, but the last shots from Roll and Blues ripped a huge tear in Gamma's shoulder. The massive Navi moaned as its buster arm dropped to the side, useless.

But they weren't out of danger yet; Gamma's left arm formed a huge, glowing sword. "What is that, a butter knife?" Punk taunted. But the green sword was no joke. Ignoring Knightman's Shotgun blasts, Gamma plunged it into the ground, producing a wide shockwave of green energy that rocketed through the ground toward the finalists. They ran out of the way, leaving the energy blast to burn a dark line into the forest.

"Great," Black said. "Now he's even more dangerous." To his Navi, he called, "Pick a leg! Super Vulcan, slot-in!"

Enzan saw what Black was trying to do. "Make it unbalanced, and it'll have a harder time attacking. Variable Sword, slot-in!"

"Right," Meiru said. "Triple Lance, slot-in!" As the virus appeared in front of Roll, there was a loud thud; Gamma was slowly moving toward them.

"Energy Bomb, slot-in!" Pride yelled. Knightman's bomb joined the bullets, trident, and Sonic Boom flying at Gamma's right leg. Slowed as he was, the massive Navi had no way to evade the attacks. He didn't even try, instead just staggering forward toward his attackers. "One more round should do it. Battlechip: Custom Bolt!" A dark gray buster with light gray spikes and a yellow bar in the buster's center appeared on Knightman's arm, and he wasted no time firing a powerful blast of electricity into the spot he'd attacked before.

A black, blocky cannon, with a face like a jack-o-lantern's on the side, formed on Roll's arm. "Volcano Cannon!" The cannon spewed smoke before ejecting a hardened ball of volcanic rock that was coated in lava. It flew into its target, opening a small hole in Gamma's armor.

Right after it came another of Blues' attacks. "Sonic Boom!"

With the hole opened even further and data starting to trickle out, it wouldn't take much more to disable Gamma's leg. Black called, "Finish it off, Punk!"

"Double-Go-Round!" One after another, Punk's two shoulderplates tore into Gamma's leg. As they returned to their owner's shoulders, the leg buckled under Gamma's massive weight. With an ear-splitting howl, he crashed to his knees.

"That must've done it," Roll said. "There's no way it can hope to hit us now!" Seconds after she said that, Gamma plunged his sword into the ground. But instead of using it to attack, he got back on his last good leg. He awkwardly stumbled forward, data leaking from the two rips that had turned his right side into little more than a weight, leaning on his sword for balance.

"How many hit points does this thing have?" Meiru asked, amazed.

Even Black sounded surprised. "Those wounds should be putting a constant drain on his health, but he's still going..." What was more, it was nearly out of the sand, its sword plunging down only a few meters away from the group of Operators and Navis.

Enzan had no time for standing around and gawking. "Weaken the other leg! Neo Variable, slot-in!" Blues hurled one Sonic Boom after another at Gamma's knee. Next up was Knightman, whose huge mace smashed in its target. The four Navis and their Operators ran deeper into the forest as Gamma fell to his knees. They covered just enough distance to avoid being squashed as the huge Navi's torso came down on the spot they'd just vacated. "Don't tell me. That didn't do it." There was the snap and crunch of trees being snapped in half. Suddenly, a huge hand was reaching for them, branches sticking out of it like giant splinters.

"We need to get some more distance between Gamma and us!" Pride said.

"No kidding!" Black said, already turning tail as Gamma's fingers dug deep into the ground, his massive arm pulling him towards the Netbattlers.

The head-start put Black in the middle of the group, where Meiru asked, "Know any more places that might help us?"

"No," he managed to say between breaths. "But we-don't need it."

"That's right," Pride said. "Gamma should be nearly defenseless by now. All that's left is getting his hit points down!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Kaita could hear eerie howls echoing through the tunnels. He didn't know how long they'd been traveling for, but he felt like it had been long enough. They'd been held up by more viruses than he could count, taken many turns down the dark corridors, and yet the gloomy tunnels stretched on. And it seemed like they could barely go two steps before new viruses came skittering down the hall to meet them on spindly, red legs. Pirou always danced to meet them, ribbons and kicks lashing out to strike them down, and Beat pitched in with his claws if there were too many for the Navi to handle alone, but there were still eleven defenseless finalists and Scialto for them to protect. The further they traveled, the more Kaita wondered if they would make it to the substantiation machines they were looking for.

But one person wasn't worried at all. "Keep 'em coming!" Atsuki yelled, wrenching his stick free after he'd managed to run a virus through. "I could do this all day!"

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Mary said. The viruses were gone for the moment, but nobody was relaxing. Kaita had the feeling this trip was only going to get longer from here.

"How far do you think we've gotten?" Dingo wondered.

"Far enough!" Kalama said when they turned the corner. They were only a few paces away from a small, circular chamber-recently constructed, if the dirt walls were any indicator-and inside it was their goal.

The substantiation machine didn't look like something that had been found or built legally. It was an ugly cylinder patched together from bare metal and surrounded by green, hexagonal tiles. There was only one bare patch directly in front of the substantiation machine, where a window popped up after Clara walked over the tiles and onto it. "Just a moment," she said, typing in a code. She frowned-it was giving her a red 'error' message. Another few tries gave the same result. "We'll just have to find another," Clara sighed. Kaita wasn't sure if he liked the idea of going through all this again, and he was sure the four Netbattlers up above would be starting to get worn out. He ran up to her. "Yes?"

"I'll take a look," he volunteered. "Does that display run off the same circuit the rest of the machine does?"

"Uh..." Clara had to look at schematics from the display itself to find out. "No."

Kaita knew exactly what to try. "Could you turn it off for a second? It might be a loose wire."

"It can't hurt," Clara said, shrugging. "Sure."

"We're relying on that kid to get us out of this," Kaita heard Yumi mutter as Clara brought up a holographic keyboard and told the machine to turn off. "Great." But Kaita wasn't fazed. If there was one situation where he knew what he was doing, it was fixing things. Upon taking a closer look, there were certainly devices here he'd never seen before, as well as more ports for plugging in than he felt were necessary. But it was obvious that all these parts were wired to each other, and one failed connection would stop the whole thing from working in a setup like this. It was just a matter of finding where that connection had been cut.

As he got to work, he could hear the others talking amongst themselves, but the mockery he'd expected from Atsuki was absent. When he moved to another part of the machine, he was able to peer at the group unnoticeably. Most of them were looking around or chatting with only the occasional glance at him, but one tall, blue-haired figure was staring intently at Kaita, arms crossed. The boy didn't have time to wonder what Atsuki was thinking about. If not him, then everyone else seemed ready to get off this island.

Kaita turned back to the machine, where he found the problem easy to locate; like Clara had said, a large and important-looking part had come loose on the machine's underside, and a few wires had come apart. He dug into his backpack and produced a pair of pliers, stripping off the plastic and twining the wires together. Next, he found a wrench to deal with what had caused the wires to come loose in the first place-someone probably hadn't bothered to tighten the bolts holding the part on, and gravity had worked its magic. If the problem was with the bolt and not the technician, it would've been better to replace them, but the machine just had to hold together for one more minute.

Kaita stepped back. "Okay, give it a shot!" There was a deep thrum as the substantiation machine came to life. He knew what to do even before Clara gave the instruction-taking aim at a random port down the machine's side, he called, "Plug in, ! Transmission!"

0110110101100101011001010111 0100011010010110111001100111 

Pride, Meiru, Enzan, and the four Navis came to a stop after reaching a small clearing. Even without as many trees in the way, they couldn't see any sign of Gamma or hear any sounds of something moving. "How far away do you think Gamma is now?" Pride wondered.

"Far enough," Black wheezed behind them, stumbling to a halt. "We must almost be to the shore."

The crack of trees being snapped in two came from the distance. Pride sent in, "Dash Condor, slot-in!" A Kiorushin virus-extra-large to fit Knightman on it-materialized, and the bulky Navi was soon speeding toward his target. When Knightman was only feet away from being directly above Gamma, Pride called, "Now!"

"Iron Hammer!" The power of Knightman's massive mace was only helped with gravity on its side. With a massive chunk taken out of its side, Gamma was greatly slowed.

However, he was far from stopped. He held his hand out at the group and intoned, "_NAVI SCOUT_." Roll yelped as a faint mist surrounded her before solidifying into a transparent copy of her. The copy flew forward and kissed Gamma's broken knee, healing it. As Roll's copy dissolved into the air, Gamma formed his sword again and got to his feet with a roar, snapping some more trees in the process.

"That thing's sure made a mess, Meiru-chan," Roll said, looking at the disaster area Gamma had turned the forest behind him into.

"Then let's clean up after it. Poltergeist, slot-in!" Roll raised her arm. A loud rustling sound filled the air as all the fallen and uprooted trees Gamma had left behind rose above the treetops to float in the air. She pointed at Gamma, and the huge Navi's head and torso promptly vanished underneath the many trees embedding themselves trunk-first into him. Blinded and leaking data with every branch that fell from him, Gamma clawed at the ground, huge hunks of dirt spraying everywhere as he tried to pull himself forward.

"Oh, come on-you're _kidding_ me-" The other Operators had run for it, but Black was much slower, trailing behind them. Gamma slammed a fist into the ground, shaking it so badly that all the Operators fell to the ground. Black was the only one left out in the open-and that made him the target of Gamma's fury. He raised a palm over the defenseless man and brought it down.

"Reflector!" The helmet blocked Black in with Roll and sent a firm shock up into Gamma's arm. The Reflector vanished as Gamma drew back his hand, and Roll wasted no time hooking her arms under Black's shoulders and jumping away as Blues and Punk rushed in to cover her with a Sonic Boom and a Double-Go-Round.

With Black safely deposited next to her Operator, Roll rejoined the other Navis. "You're the last people I'd expect to help me," the hacker said, surprised.

"Well, a Net Savior is supposed to protect people," Meiru said. "Besides, we'd be cheating the city out of some community service if we let you get squished here!" Gamma had managed to unearth his sword arm, and wasted no time shifting his forearm into the glowing blade. "Do you still not believe in Program Advances?" she asked.

Black took out three chips. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." He called, "Think you can give it a shot, Punk?"

"Why not, eh?" His arms ready at his sides, Punk called, "Program Advance!"

"Then let's go! Yo-yo, triple slot-in!"

Meiru backed him up with, "Spread Gun, triple slot-in!"

Pride added her own Program Advance. "Cannon, High Cannon, Mega Cannon!"

Enzan sent in, "Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!"

Two Yo-yo Battlechips formed on Punk's arms before glowing white. He touched them together, forming a larger and more dangerous-looking weapon. "Yo-yo Blade!" he yelled, shooting out a triad of spiked Yo-yos to hit their marks all over Gamma.

Similarly, Roll's two Spreaders glowed white to form a larger blue cannon. "Hyper Burst!" she yelled, sending out a blast of blue energy with red and blue sparks jumping out of it.

"Zeta Cannon!" Golden shots poured out of Knightman's half-blue, half-red cannon.

Finally, Blues swung a massive pillar of blue-white energy into the fray. "Dream Sword!" When the smoke cleared, Gamma was barely standing. There were cuts all over his body, and chunks of him were flickering in and out of sight. He feebly lifted his shaking sword arm, ready to plunge it into the ground to wipe out the four exhausted Navis and their Operators.

"No you don't! Ring Boomerang!" Ten rings sailed into Gamma's sword arm, halting its swing. As they returned to Ring, she announced, "The cavalry has arrived!"

"Onibi!" Skullman shot a ball of purple flame into the spot Ring had hit, causing the arm attached to it to lose the sword.

Kalama and Charlie both called, "Energy Bomb, slot-in!" Pele and Gyroman hurled twin black bombs dotted with yellow bumps at the huge Navi, ripping his sword arm off completely.

"Kero, kero!" Toadman's musical notes froze Gamma in place.

Now that there was little danger, Tomahawkman sprang into the air. Tucking into a ball, he yelled, "Tomahawk Rolling!" His force smashed apart Gamma's good leg.

Burnerman had a similar idea. As Tomahawkman returned to the group of Navis, flames shot out of the cylinders lining Burnerman's armor and his twin busters. "Burning Jet!" Gamma went flying backwards, its legs vanishing from sight.

"Roulette Shaft!" What was left of the massive Navi disappeared under an even larger waterspout. A torso crashed to the ground, torrents of data pouring out of its bottom.

"Turbo Wheel!" The fiery tires produced a huge explosion as they rammed themselves deep into the hole where Gamma's torso ended. It gave one last cry before vanishing from the field, leaving behind a ruined forest.


	32. I Wonder What'll Happen Next?

**A/N:** More general author's notes and thank-yous will be at the bottom. For now, a huge thanks to MI3 for all the reviews! As the pause in updates proves, you're not the only one for whom real-world problems prevent online posting. I'm glad you noticed the emphasis on teamwork - it's a pretty large focus of the overall story, in a way, so you're definitely in the right mindset!

And now, the long-overdue denouement!

* * *

There had been a nearly imperceptible hum the Dimensional Area made, one Kaita hadn't even noticed until it was gone. The other effect the Dimensional Area's removal had was easier to see. Turboman was back in his PET, for good this time. It was a little easier than it had been when they'd lost against Poipu and Knightman, but Kaita still wished there had been time for a proper goodbye.

"Come on, Kaita-kun, it's not the end of the world! I may be in the PET again, but I'm still here." Kaita smiled down at his Navi.

"I know. It's just different, that's all."

Turboman looked at him for a moment. "That isn't the only thing wrong, is it?"

"You've been with me for way too long," Kaita laughed. "I..." With more seriousness, he said, "It still bothers me about Gamma."

It wasn't something Turboman could just explain away. "It bothers me, too. Someone should've fixed the problems with him before they started causing trouble. Putting him to sleep and waiting for them to magically vanish wasn't the answer."

"How could it be?" Kaita wondered. "Scialto-san never did anything about it." He looked over at Alexander, sprawled out on a deck chair. Wrinkling his nose, he said, "I wonder where everyone else is."

He looked around the ship. In the corner were Black, Atsuki, and Yumi-and seeing them made Kaita think of a problem much more pertinent to him. He'd found himself growing, if not fond, then a little more used to Black. Kaita wasn't sure if he'd made himself a strange new friend or if this was just some new trap Black was trying to spring. He didn't know what to believe anymore. He looked away as Black glanced over-along with Atsuki. Kaita remembered that thoughtful look Atsuki had given him earlier that day. Was the blue-haired man just messing around like Black supposedly was, or was there something else to it? Kaita wished there was some safe way to find out. He wanted to take Burnerman on alone about as much as he did Punk. Even thinking about it was hardly inspiring. He didn't feel ready for whatever was in store, but he couldn't pretend it wasn't happening. He just knew that the day when he'd have to fight Nova and win was coming closer. The day when he would have to show Black exactly how much he'd improved. "It's not going to be easy, is it?" he asked Turboman.

"If it was, it wouldn't be worth trying for," Turboman pointed out.

Kaita smiled. "Yeah."

"Hey, Kaita-kun!" He didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Kalama was running over. In the direction she'd come from was the ship's bow, where Dingo, Mary, Meiru, and Enzan were. "Stop being such a loner and get over here!"

"Sure thing," Kaita said, meeting her halfway and letting her tug him over to the others by the wrist. "I was just talking to Turboman, that's all," he explained to them. "Nothing weird about that, right?"

"What about?" Dingo asked.

"About everything! It feels like a lot happened today."

"You have no idea," Meiru said. "I have never been happier that a Netbattle was over."

"It was..." Kaita glanced at Enzan for a second, but quickly looked back at the others. "It was really weird. Like, not just the big Dimensional Area and all that-"

"That was totally weird!" Kalama butted in.

"-but the people."

Kalama frowned. "Are you saying I'm weird?"

"No, no!" Kaita explained, "I was just surprised by some of the people. I guess with the forest and how close everyone had to be to each other, it really showed me sides of some people that I'd never seen."

"And whether or not you were better off not knowing is up in the air," Enzan said.

Kaita looked at him with surprise. "That's exactly it."

"How do you mean?" Meiru asked.

"Just look at the first round," Enzan said. It wasn't quite what Kaita had meant, but he also thought it wasn't quite what Enzan had been agreeing with him about. "It makes you sleep easier, knowing people would attack you over supplies you could easily share."

"That's true." Meiru looked out over the water speeding past, thinking. "Enzan?"

"Hm?"

"I'd say the tournament's over, wouldn't you?"

He smirked, clearly having caught on to what she had in mind. "Yes. I think it is." The two Net Saviors gave the group a wave farewell, Meiru beaming as if about to play a joke on someone, then headed for the crate Alexander was sitting on. Kaita watched in amazement as Enzan moved to stand on Alexander's right while Meiru covered the host's left.

As the Ameroupian man looked from one to the other, genuinely confused, Meiru said, "Well, you almost got hurt from this mess, Enzan. I think you should do the honors."

"Fine." With the press of a button on the underside of his PET, a hologram materialized in midair: the Net Saviors' insignia revolving in a slow circle. "Mr. Scialto, you're under arrest for illegal possession and usage of a Dimensional Area."

Alexander was horrified. "What?" He indignantly countered, "But it was on my private island-"

"Which was in Japanese waters," Meiru cut in. "When our PETs regained their GPS connections, we both checked."

"Even if it wasn't, I'm sure something you did would count as an offense." Enzan recalled, "Let's see... You set your Navi on two Net Saviors and plenty of civilians, injured at least two people with those tests of yours..." Alexander had gone pale. "I don't need to get into detail, do I?"

"The Net Police'll be waiting for you at the dock," Meiru said brightly. "Better start thinking of defenses!"

Nearly everyone burst into applause as Meiru and Enzan walked into the ship's cabin, Alexander between them. "Nice one, guys!" Dingo called as the door swung shut.

"Bravo!" laughed a woman behind them.

Kaita turned around to see another new friend. "Poipu-san!"

"Poipu-_chan_, Kaita-kun," the blonde said cheerfully. She turned to the other girls. "Mary-chan and Kalama-chan, right?"

Mary smiled. "You betcha!" Kalama said.

"I'm Dingo," introduced the teen before he got a better look at her. "Hang on, you're Princess Pride! From the Cross Fusion Members!"

"Yes! You've grown, Dingo-kun!"

Kaita was amazed. "You're really a princess, Poipu-chan?"

She seemed a little embarrassed about it. "Yes, but that's not the point! I wanted to see you one last time before we all part," Poipu said. "I'm going to be very busy soon, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to see you all again."

"You can still visit us after that, though, right?" Kaita asked.

"It's not that easy, unfortunately. I'm from Creamland," Poipu explained. "It's in the northeast of the Ameroupian continent. I'm guessing you all live in Japan?"

"Yes. Akihara Town," Mary said.

"Akihara... that's in the Densan area, isn't it?" Poipu asked. "I may have to pay you all a visit in the spring, see how much it's changed. The last time I was there..." Some of the cheer vanished from her face. "A good friend of mine had passed away."

"That's right," Dingo said. He shook his head. "Four years ago now, wasn't it? Man... I remember it like it was yesterday."

"Oh," Kaita said, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, it's fine! It was a long time ago," Poipu explained. "We've all moved on in one way or another."

"Yep!" Dingo's smile was a little wistful. "Though sometimes I get to thinking... He should be here with us. He would've loved this, don't you think?"

"Right up his alley!" agreed Poipu. She looked up at the cloudy sky overhead. "But I think he's still with us in spirit. He's probably up there right now, glad we're still getting into scrapes like always."

Dingo grinned, looking up at the sky. "Good old Netto." He looked back at Kaita and the girls. "You remind me of him, in some ways," Dingo told Kaita.

"Really? I see some similarities, but they're pretty different to me." Poipu said. "It must be the bandanna!"

"Hmm... Yeah, that's part of it," Dingo said. Kaita was staring at them both, completely confused. Dingo burst into laughter. He told the younger Netbattler, "He was a Netbattling expert. You've probably seen or heard of him before, you just don't realize it... but enough of memory lane. You ever been to Jawaii, Kaita?"

Now Kalama was getting excited. "That's a great idea!" she said, nearly jumping up and down in excitement. "Kaita-kun, Mary-chan, you've got to come to Jawaii before the year's out. We'll hang out at Maha Niban and go to the beach and check out the haunted pages-it'll be great!"

Kaita looked out at the ocean-and found there wasn't much more of it to see. The towers of Densan City were looming ever closer. "We're almost there!"

"And we haven't given each other stuff to contact each other by!" Kalama said. "Hurry, before we dock!" As their Navis exchanged contact information, Kaita looked around at his Mary and his new friends. Even with all its downsides, Kaita was glad he'd come to the tournament-he never would have met Kalama and Poipu, and he probably wouldn't have gotten to know Dingo better if he'd decided not to go. As the boat came to a stop, Kalama said, "Just think, we're going to be back home in a matter of hours! I'm sure Mom and Dad've been worried sick... See ya!" she called to the other three, racing toward the gangplank as it was let down.

"Keep in touch!" Dingo called, following her.

Poipu, Kaita, and Mary walked off the ship together. "It's so nice to be home..." Mary sighed.

"I'm sure I have plenty of work waiting for me when I get back," Poipu said with a rueful smile. "No use making it pile up further. I'm sure I'll see you two sooner or later!"

"Definitely!" Kaita called. With that, he and Mary started heading down the sidewalk that would eventually get them home. But the sound of a siren startled them into looking back before they'd gotten more than a few steps. A police car had pulled up, and Meiru and Enzan were walking off the ship with Alexander in tow. Policemen were stepping out of the car to handcuff the pudgy man.

"Well, I guess that's it," Meiru said to Enzan before looking around at the dock. She soon spotted the two younger Netbattlers. "Kaita-kun, Mary-chan, keep Netbattling!" Meiru called. "I'm sure we'll see each other around!" She waved to them, the two children waving back, before she turned back to minding Alexander and Kaita and Mary turned back to the sidewalk in front of them.

"Now that we're back, I can't wait to be home," Mary said. She looked to the street next to them as the police car drove past them, then back at the dock. "Oh!" Kaita turned to see what Mary was looking at. Meiru and Enzan hadn't left with the police car, and not everyone had left the boat. Jumping down from the deck with abandon was Black.

"What's going on?" Kaita and Mary were too far away to hear what they were saying, but Kaita found his feet moving him back toward the dock. Keeping behind the cars in the parking lot, he snuck closer, Mary behind him but reluctant.

"Kaita-kun, let's go!" Mary hissed.

"Just a minute," Kaita whispered back. "Almost there..."

"Where'd your friends go?" Meiru asked, suspicious.

"They're gone already," Black replied. "If you call up the police ahead of time, don't expect the average thief to stick around."

"Point taken," Meiru said. Kaita raised his head just high enough to see what was going on. Meiru and Enzan weren't facing him, and Black's face was pretty neutral, for him. There was only a small trace of amusement on his face. "Well, I hate to say this, but thanks for your help. Thank the other two for me, too."

"I will." Black looked back at their ride, pilotless without Alexander to take the helm. "Say, do you think anyone would miss this?"

"Afraid so," Enzan said. "Meijin's asked us to confiscate it."

Meiru and Black both missed the other's shocked look since they were both staring at Enzan. "Meijin-san?" Meiru asked.

"Yes. As evidence."

The motor looked quite powerful to Kaita's inexperienced eyes. He had a feeling it would look the same to this Meijin person. "Oh," Meiru said weakly. "Oh boy..."

"I see a chance of wetness in your future." Black smirked. "Though maybe you'll get lucky. One thing's for sure, Meiru-chan..." Though he seemed to complete the sentence, his head turned to Enzan. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Don't worry about us," Enzan returned. "Worry about yourself." Black's smirk faltered for a moment before returning with some difficulty to its normal strength. "See you around."

Black nodded. There was something unsettling in his eye that ruined his otherwise neutral expression. Whatever it was, Kaita knew it wasn't good. The two Net Saviors turned away, Enzan first and Meiru following. It wasn't long before they were out of earshot.

"Come on," Mary said, tugging Kaita's sleeve a little. "Let's go before he spots us."

"Don't think I haven't," Black snapped. "You make horrible snoops. I'd follow her advice if I were you, brat."

Kaita's head bobbed up and down. "Y-Yeah. Bye."

"Later." Kaita turned to follow Mary. When he figured that they were far enough away, he looked back just in time to see Black hurl a stone into the water furiously. Kaita stared for some time at the retreating figure as it stormed away from the pier; then, he turned back to Mary and caught her watching, just as surprised as he was. They stood still for a moment, looking at each other as if waiting for the other to say something.

"We should go home now," Mary said quietly.

"Yeah."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, we're finally at the end of Grand Championship! A huge thanks to MI3 for all of her reviews, Kivuli for that first review, and ChaotixController for following! And, of course, to the roughly 14 readers who have seen this through to the end! There are a lot of questions still left to be answered - and some have only just been raised! - but we'll get there.

As the lack of update may have told you, school has picked up for me over here. And though all of the fics in this series have already been written, I do like to do at least some polishing before I post. So you can expect to see the next part in... late April, early May? Until then, have a bearable rest of winter and a nice beginning of spring!


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